- A new whitepaper from Blue Frontier details key opportunities and challenges for NHS trusts amidst ongoing digital transformation.
- Interoperability, patient access concerns, and public fears over AI remain prominent challenges for the NHS to overcome.
- The research uses a combination of primary and secondary data to provide a comprehensive view of the sector.
As the NHS quickly approaches its March 2026 deadline for foundational digital transformation, a new whitepaper from Blue Frontier warns that interoperability, patient access concerns, and public fears over AI could slow future progress. ‘NHS Under Pressure: Challenges and Opportunities Facing NHS Digital Transformation in 2025 and Beyond’ aims to empower key NHS decision makers when planning their ongoing digital transformation strategy to deliver enhanced patient engagement and experience, and improved operational efficiencies while relieving resource pressures.
This report brings brand new market insights to the forefront, with primary data collected and visualised by Blue Frontier. The data in this whitepaper consists of social listening and mentions data, collected across a wide range of digital channels, including online news, social networks, podcasts, forums, and blog sites, gathered throughout the period of August 2024 to September 2025. This data has been bolstered with additional secondary information and third-party data from sources including NHS England, GOV.UK, Cambridge University, and Deloitte.
Key points include interoperability being seen as the most prominent challenge to NHS digital transformation in relation to automation, data exchange, real-time intelligence, and adopting cloud-native platforms. Between August 2024 and September 2025, there has been a 135% increase in the total number of online mentions relating to the NHS and artificial intelligence or machine learning, when compared to the previous year. However, fear and anger are the most common emotions felt by the public in conversations about AI and the NHS, accounting for just under 60% combined, with joy closely behind on 26%.
A crucial challenge for data security lies in regulatory compliance, with legislation and compliance making up 20% of discussions. Low digital literacy rates, in relation to balancing patient access and ease of use, continue to be an opportunity and a challenge, with conversations increasing by 28% from March 2025 to September 2025 compared with the previous period. Finally, budgets and costs remain a prevalent challenge for NHS trusts seeking to integrate digital transformation projects, with around 20% of the total data pool specifically referencing costs and resources as a challenge or barrier to entry.
James Fry, Managing Director at Blue Frontier, said:
“In bringing this information to the NHS at this crucial time, we’re further supporting public sector initiatives that improve efficiency and delivery of service in the UK. Responsibly harnessing technology is an effective way to reduce costs and positively impact people’s lives, and this whitepaper will provide greater insight and aid decision-making for those striving to make an impactful difference.”
To read the full report and learn more about the opportunities and challenges facing NHS trusts and what they should do to leverage digital transformation effectively, go to the Blue Frontier website
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