Datnexa is leading real world implementation of public health data analytics to foster intervention. We work with Local Authorities as an impact innovation partner, developing AI-driven solutions for service delivery teams, providing tools that enable them to save money and meet increased care demands. Drawing on our expertise in predictive analytics, AI-driven care coordination, and ethical technology deployment, we welcome the opportunity that this consultation provides to outline what we see as a generational opportunity to revolutionise how healthcare is delivered.

At Datnexa, we believe that the future of healthcare lies in anticipating challenges, designing solutions for real problems, and fostering collaboration across stakeholders.

By embracing these ideas we believe the Government’s ambitions of moving the NHS care model from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention, can be met.

Our own work demonstrates how technology and data can be harnessed not only to solve today’s problems but also to shape a resilient, equitable, and efficient healthcare system for tomorrow.

The NHS of Tomorrow - Anticipating Challenges

Imagine a healthcare system where every neighbourhood operates as a micro-health ecosystem, supported by real-time data insights that can anticipate and predict future health challenges. This strengths-based model bridges the gap between public health, adult social care and the NHS to alleviate pressure on hospitals but also foster personalised care pathways that would keep individuals healthier at home, moving the NHS from a hospital to prevention model.

Datnexa envisions a future where neighbourhood-level health intelligence becomes the foundation of care delivery. By leveraging AI-powered tools like Datnexa’s National Frailty Index (NFIX), we empower Local Authorities and Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) with actionable data to identify at-risk individuals before they require acute hospital care.

The NFIX uses predictive analytics to identify individuals at risk of falls—one of the leading causes of unplanned hospital admissions. By enabling targeted community interventions, we reduce hospitalisations whilst enhancing quality of life. At present falls cost the NHS approximately £4.4 billion annually. Our data-driven approach has demonstrated potentially huge returns on investment, underscoring the economic case for community-based prevention.

We firmly believe that prevention is the key to enabling the NHS, and Local Authorities, to deliver more effective services and to do so in a more financially efficient way. However, as we will highlight below, using digital transformations to enable preventative health care will require a sea change in both how the different services within the NHS work together and how the NHS works with other organisations, and in the knowledge and understanding of AI and data driven solutions amongst NHS staff.

Peterborough City Council - Putting prediction into practice

Peterborough City Council is taking a bold step into the future with its innovative use of predictive analytics. Their ambition is to harness the power of data to proactively address issues related to falls and frailty among the elderly. In collaboration with Datnexa, the Council is developing a predictive analytics model to support targeted interventions that will reduce demand and enhance the quality of life for at-risk individuals.

This data-driven approach will enable the council to identify and prioritise those most in need, ensuring efficient and effective allocation of resources and interventions. The programme of work cuts across organisational boundaries and is a collaborative effort, involving Health and system wide partners.

Beyond addressing falls and frailty, this initiative represents a broader commitment to leveraging technology and data to drive positive community outcomes.

Through the learning gained from the falls and frailty work, PPC is exploring the wider use of this approach to support unpaid carers, increase the efficacy of prevention services, offer community-based targeted prevention, and reduce poverty and homelessness by targeting interventions at the earliest opportunity.

Designing Technology Solutions for Real Problems

In our work creating transformative AI and digital solutions for health and social care providers, we have too often seen ‘solutions’ that have been created to solve non-existent problems. If the Government is to meet its three transformative missions for the NHS - hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention - solution providers need to know what problems the NHS requires solving and that the solutions they provide offer scalability, adaptability and interoperability.

EHCP Plus was created to help solve the problem of 1.2 million children waiting for the Special Education Needs support they require due to the bureaucracy of writing Education, Health and Care Plans. EHCP Plus automates 80% of Education Health and Care Plan drafting via generative AI, enabling social work professionals to reclaim 15 hours weekly for direct child/family engagement.

Datnexa developed EHCP Plus in collaboration with Outcomes Matter Consulting and Agilisys Transform, working as the innovation partner to create the product strategy, brand, due diligence, cyber security, information governance and ensured alignment across other partners. As a tool it was designed to solve a specific problem and to be scalable so that it could be used at a local and national level.

We can see clear parallels with major problems within the NHS, for instance tackling missed appointments, which cost the NHS over £1 billion annually. An intelligent scheduling system and digital workflow could significantly reduce these inefficiencies.

Finally, digital solutions must integrate seamlessly across platforms and providers to ensure continuity of care and data flow. It is no use creating a solution that only works on one platform if genuine data driven digital transformation is to benefit the staff and users of the NHS.

To successfully transition the NHS from analogue to digital will require an AI-empowered workforce. Our own work in this area, the Mini MBAi, Leadership in AI courses, and LGAi events, has highlighted the need for AI literacy programmes not just within the NHS but across industries and sectors. Our experience upskilling 500+ Local Authority professionals demonstrates that NHS staff whether procuring or using AI and data driven solutions will need to be both mentally and technically prepared for the changes these solutions will bring to both the NHS’ organisation and its service delivery.

Fostering Collaboration Across Stakeholders

Datnexa’s work developing solutions in partnership with others, like EHCP Plus, or our work with Local Authority social and health care teams to implement the National Frailty Index (NFIX) and prevent falls or identify unpaid carers, or in our work rolling out Hey Geraldine a 24/7 AI assistant for adult social care teams, has highlighted to us just how important effective collaboration is in operationalising solutions and change.

At present for example, with regard to the NFIX, implementing this solution requires numerous Local Authority teams e.g., adult social care, public health, business intelligence, finance, operations, legal etc. The long list of internal teams needed to engage in transformative digital projects such as the NFIX requires engagement with NHS services and organisations from both a use of NHS data and Local Authority-NHS service design perspective.

We would like to see therefore the Government put at the heart of its plans for the NHS the breaking down of barriers both within NHS teams and services, and between the NHS and those other organisations it will need to move from a hospital to community care model. To effectively implement big digital transformations that enable the NHS to move from analogue to digital and from sickness to prevention, NHS collaboration within and without will be paramount. We have seen for ourselves how projects can be delayed or even derailed by teams not understanding or not being brought into the benefits of digital transformations.

Thought will also need to be given to the need for effective data sharing between the NHS and other organisations that data driven projects require. We would encourage the Government to establish data sharing rules or regulations that properly protect the data of individuals but do so in a way that does not completely inhibit or delay projects, resulting in project benefits not being realised or realised only partially.

Conclusion

The UK Government’s 10-Year Health Plan presents an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine healthcare delivery. However, achieving this vision requires bold thinking and collaborative action.

As we have outlined above Datnexa is excited and supportive of the Government’s missions to transform the NHS, a vision embodied by a new model of service that is focused on prevention, on the specific needs of the individual, on the transformative power of data, and on breaking down barriers that stymie or mitigate against the creation of effective community models of healthcare.

As we have highlighted, Datnexa believes that anticipating challenges, designing solutions for real problems, and fostering collaboration across stakeholders are the key challenges that the Government will need to engage with to deliver its mission. As proven innovators in predictive analytics, ethical AI deployment, and cross-sector collaboration we stand ready to play our part in meeting these challenges and supporting the creation of a 21st century NHS.