At PCPN 2025, we hosted a dynamic fireside chat titled ‘Real-world examples of successful digital innovation within primary care.’ In this session, leading experts in digital transformation shared practical insights from across the sector, showcasing how technology is driving change in primary care. From empowering patients through digital tools, to delivering proactive care for high-risk populations, and safely integrating AI into clinical workflows, the conversation offered a rich look at what’s working – and what’s next.

Here are some of the key takeaways…

Patient-facing digital health

We live in an increasingly digitally driven world, and with 95% of the UK population using smartphones, this reliance on digital is undoubtedly transforming how patients engage with healthcare.

Kicking off the fireside chat, Tom Micklewright, Clinical Lead for Digital Transformation in Primary Care at Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board pointed out, ‘patient facing digital health is already being widely utilised by the people we serve’. With around 5 million health apps downloaded every day, the question becomes clear: what does this mean for primary care?

Even though many patients are used to using digital tools for their health needs, patient-facing digital tools are still very underutilised when it comes to primary care. As Tom explained, trust is a huge factor for clinicians when it comes to implementing these tools, as you can’t always guarantee that the app they’re using is safe and reliable.

Speaking about his time as a consulting GP, Tom shared his experience of embedding digital tools into his normal workflow, whilst still protecting the safety of the patient.

‘We worked with an organisation called Orca to develop an app library that all of our patients could access and a formulary that would allow our healthcare professionals to search independently assessed and assured health apps and make the recommendation directly to patients. And the advantage of that partnership is that holds the liability as well for those assessments and that assurance. So, it felt risk free to the ICB.’

He continued, ‘We knew that the products that were being curated for our patients to use were safe, assured and validated by a third party. The result is a library that’s had about 75,000 different views.’

Proactive care using digital tools

Taking the mic for the second part of the fireside chat, Gurnak, Deputy Chief Clinical Information Officer at LLR ICB talked about the proactive care space and engaging with patients to get the best outcome.

Speaking about his previous experiences, Gurnak recalled the time him and his team helped shift focus from acute-phase virtual wards to reaching out to high-risk patients using digital tools. He explained:

‘It didn’t matter whether they had heart failure, COPD, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, cancer, it didn’t really matter to us. The purpose of this programme was to allow using digital means for a remote team to clinically assess these patients and be the first port of call for these individuals so that they we could get them to the right place that first time.’

The programme was disease-agnostic and aimed to empower patients with digital tools to report early signs of illness, allowing remote clinical teams to intervene promptly before a medical crisis occurs.

The programme has already resulted in a number of positive outcomes, including:

• Shorter hospital admissions
• Earlier clinical interventions
• Reduced 111 and 999 calls

Despite the early successes of the programme, Gurnak acknowledged that there are still significant challenges when it comes to engaging both patients and clinical teams, emphasising the complexities of a large-scale roll out. Summarising his experiences, Gurnak explained:

‘It’s essential that whenever we look at digital transformation or digital processes or digital pieces of work, we make sure we engage with all those different stakeholders as best as we can. But to try and slot it into a bigger piece of work so that it’s not just the stand-alone process. So that all the other supporting factors are there to try and help push it forward and hopefully get it out of pilot phase into business-as-usual phase.’

AI in primary care

With staff shortages and an increased workload, many clinicians have turned to tools like ChatGPT to help with diagnostic work, not out of curiosity, but necessity. While the potential benefits of AI are undeniable, Alexander Aubrey, Medical Director, Clinical Lead for AI Health Education and Improvement Wales, urged caution when using these tools.

‘I think the potential is huge, but I also think we have, it would be criminal to underplay and downplay the potential risks of AI solutions. We have to remember that particularly the kind of retail models such as ChatGPT, CLOD and so on, they’re not built with clinical responsibility in mind, and they hallucinate. And I think most of us will know that the, the, the real concern is that they can be very confident about, confident about the things that they are wrong about. And it’s very difficult for us to spot that.’

While AI can be very useful, clinicians’ need to remember that these types of tools haven’t been built with healthcare in mind. He explained:

‘At Health Education Improvement Wales, what we’re trying to do is educate our workforce. Empower them, encourage them to use these tools safely. And obviously we’re remembering that we’re not recommending their use necessarily as clinical tools. They are not certified as clinical or medical devices.’

Join our future discussions

This discussion offered valuable insight into successful digital innovation within primary care. A big thank you to our speakers, Tom, Gurnak, and Alexander for sharing their expertise and thought-provoking perspectives. . If you’d like to take part in future discussions register your interest to join us at PCPN 2026 on 12-13 May!