HealthTech Hour

AI in healthcare, the future of the NHS, digital health and the single patient record - Sarah Siegel, Global Healthcare Sector Leader at Deloitte, on the AI that left patients feeling better than a human call, and what the NHS can learn from the rest of the world.
What if an AI could make patients feel better than a phone call from a person? In a Canadian pilot, elderly patients recovering from surgery stayed on the phone with an AI avatar two to three times longer than with human callers, and reported higher wellbeing afterwards. Steve Roest sits down with Sarah Siegel, who swapped 14-hour days shipping sheet glass in Pennsylvania for a career in healthcare, to unpack why it worked, why she still feels “a little morally confused” about it, and why she believes the next few years will be the most exciting in healthcare for two decades.
In this episode:
The AI avatar that called patients after surgery, and why they felt better
Why an American who’s seen health systems worldwide is still enamoured with the NHS
Is the NHS really broken? Compared to what?
Why the health systems that digitise best tend to be smaller
Why a knee replacement can follow a different pathway depending on where you live
Should you be able to compare your surgeon’s outcomes?
How to regulate AI as a medical device without stopping innovation
What the NHS could look like by 2030
0:00 The AI that made patients feel better 0:47 Intro 2:32 Meet Sara Siegel, Deloitte's global healthcare leader 4:20 What consultants actually do, and when to hire one 7:31 From sheet glass in Pennsylvania to UK drug pricing 10:36 Why she fell for the NHS 12:54 Why healthcare still feels ten years behind 16:58 The single patient record: brilliant idea, hard "how" 21:44 Why smaller health systems get digital right 26:53 Ambient voice tech: the AI clinicians love 31:17 The AI avatar calling patients after surgery 34:04 Can regulation keep up with AI? 40:02 Big tech, partnerships and data held captive 43:52 The next three years: "the most exciting time" 45:39 How Deloitte helps health tech startups 47:46 "You did that. You can do this."
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NHS reform, the future of GPs, primary care, AI in healthcare, GLP-1s, prevention, the single patient record - Dr Charlotte Refsum, former GP and Director of Health Policy at the Tony Blair Institute, on why young people are bypassing the NHS, and what a primary care system built for the AI era looks like.
What if the NHS is no longer the only option, and hasn't fully grasped it? Steve Roest sits down with Dr Charlotte Refsum, a former GP who now leads health policy at the Tony Blair Institute. She once practised medicine in a converted bedroom in southeast London with no blood tests and no X-rays on site, where the choice was her, that day, or A&E. Now she works on how the NHS adapts to AI, why NICE backed weight-loss jabs for 3.4 million people while 2.4 million went private online, and how to reach the people prevention keeps missing.
In this episode:
Why young people are bypassing the NHS for on-demand private care
"Primary care is a platform, not a place": the GP's role in the age of AI
What GLP-1s exposed about how the NHS values and delivers prevention
Why care.data failed, and how to make the single patient record matter to patients
The "forgotten middle": why midlife is the sweet spot for prevention
Why the Treasury doesn't believe "prevention saves money," and the argument that works
Why the GP contract isn't built for prevention, and the practical fixes that could change it
0:00 From a bedroom GP surgery to predicting illness 1:15 Intro 4:30 From GP to health policy 6:35 Practising medicine in a converted bedroom 8:57 Primary care is a platform, not a place 11:50 A skin check in five seconds 15:47 What GLP-1s exposed about the NHS 19:40 Is the NHS still the only option? 25:49 Why the single patient record matters 30:13 Which country does health data best? 32:52 Why care data failed 34:22 Does prevention really save money? 37:43 The forgotten middle 42:06 Reaching people who never respond 44:37 Prevention without the fear 49:27 Why the GP contract isn't built for prevention 51:12 Practical fixes for primary care
🎧 New episodes bi-weekly with the founders, clinicians, journalists and leaders shaping the future of healthcare.

Community pharmacy, pharmacist prescribing, Pharmacy First, NHS medicine shortages, prevention, blood pressure checks — Jay Patel, co-CEO of Day Lewis, on why the pharmacy on your high street is the most underused and underfunded part of UK healthcare.
A blood pressure check he almost declined caught the heart disease that would have killed him. Steve Roest sits down with Jay Patel — qualified pharmacist, MBA, Community Pharmacy England board member and co-CEO of one of the UK's largest pharmacy chains — on why community pharmacy is quietly becoming the front line of prevention, and what it could do if the system actually backed it.
In this episode:
Why a routine pharmacy check saved Jay's life, and what it says about prevention
Why every newly qualified pharmacist in the UK can now prescribe
How pharmacies are paid less for medicines than they cost to buy
Why Pharmacy First is the backbone of what's coming next
How AI will make pharmacists better, not replace them
Why online pharmacy hasn't killed the high-street model
The four lessons from building a 250-pharmacy family business
0:00 The pharmacy check that saved his life 0:44 Intro 3:10 Welcome & why community pharmacy keeps growing in importance 5:50 Growing up in the back of a pharmacy 11:11 Why pharmacy is a bigger front line than your GP 14:12 The blood pressure check that saved Jay's life 19:13 Pharmacist prescribing and Pharmacy First 24:49 Why AI will make pharmacists better, not replace them 47:45 Why pharmacies lose money on your prescriptions 49:27 The four lessons that shaped him
🎧 New episodes bi-weekly with the founders, clinicians, journalists and leaders shaping the future of healthcare.

Children's mental health, prevention vs treatment, resilience, self-esteem, the CAMHS waiting list - Laura Earnshaw, Founder of myHappymind, on why we're solving children's mental health at the wrong end, and what teaching it early actually looks like.
What if most children's mental health problems could be prevented years before they ever reach a waiting list? Steve Roest sits down with Laura Earnshaw, former Global Head of Talent at AstraZeneca, now Founder and CEO of myHappymind, the NHS-backed programme in over 2,000 schools. After her own son struggled at school and a family member was sectioned, Laura left her corporate career to build the skills she'd been teaching senior leaders for children as young as three.
In this episode:
Why children's mental health needs prevention, not just treatment
What myHappymind teaches children as young as three
The 120% vs 20% data proving early intervention works
The commissioner who wouldn't fund prevention and why
Why "character, not competence" builds real self-esteem
Why founders should stop publicly blaming the NHS
Laura's mottos for getting through the hard days

0:00 Why we get children's mental health backwards 0:51 Intro 2:20 From AstraZeneca to founding myHappymind 5:44 The two moments that changed everything 8:04 A million kids waiting: prevention vs treatment 10:34 What you can teach a three-year-old 11:38 Character, not competence: building real self-esteem 15:54 The data - 120% vs 20% on school absence 19:12 The commissioner who wouldn't fund prevention 40:44 Why founders should stop blaming the NHS 42:42 How the NHS came to her first 50:05 "Everything is figureoutable"
🎧 New episodes bi-weekly with the founders, clinicians, journalists and leaders shaping the future of healthcare.

NHS data, global healthcare systems, cancer referrals, the single patient record, A&E pressures - Dr Penny Dash, Chair of NHS England, on what the UK gets right, what it gets wrong, and what it could learn from the rest of the world.
Is there a healthcare system better than the NHS? Steve Roest sits down with Penny Dash — former hospital doctor, ex-McKinsey European healthcare lead, and now Chair of NHS England - for one of the most wide-ranging conversations the show has had. After more than four decades in the system, she remains a rare voice of optimism: a realist who never sugarcoats, but always sees the potential for things to be better.
In this episode:
Why there's no clear winner among global healthcare systems, and what the UK still leads on
Why Dr Dash believes India could lead the world in healthcare
How Germany prices surgery like a market to manage waiting lists
Why your GP and hospital records still don't connect
The single patient record debate, and thirty years of the same resistance
Why "don't come to A&E" is the wrong message
Why most urgent cancer referrals now find nothing

0:00 Is there a better system than the NHS? 0:51 Intro 2:26 Staying optimistic after 45 years in healthcare 5:44 Which countries do healthcare best 9:19 Why India could lead the world in healthcare 11:50 How Germany prices surgery like a market 19:12 Innovation vs adoption: the 17-year lag 27:41 The single patient record debate 42:22 Why your GP and hospital records don't connect 47:48 "Telling people not to come to A&E is our failure" 56:31 Why 9 in 10 cancer referrals find nothing
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