The latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged explores what it takes to successfully scale innovation in the NHS and why so many startups fail.

Unplugged host Jordan Sollof is joined by Mindy Simon, co-director of the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA), an initiative to support promising health innovations to spread across the NHS, and NIA alumni Elina Naydenova, co-founder and chief executive of HealthTech startup Feebris,

They share insights on how to move digital health solutions from pilot to system-wide adoption, including the single most important factor in determining whether an innovation will scale.

Drawing on Feebris’ experience delivering AI-enabled virtual care across more than 250 sites, Naydenova describes her journey in the NHS as a startup founder, including an example where a procurement process took 13 months, while full deployment across multiple hospitals and clinical pathways took just six weeks.

The NIA will launch its latest cohort of fellows at Digital Health Rewired 2026, showcasing new health technologies and featuring 24 quick-fire pitches from the new fellows.

Rewired 2026 takes place on 24-25 March at the NEC Birmingham. Register here.

Guests:

Mindy Simon, co-director at the NHS Innovation Accelerator

Elina Naydenova, co-founder and chief executive of Feebris

In the latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged, Marcus Baw calls for a rethink of NHS technology strategy, arguing that the service has drifted away from open source and in-house capability.

Baw, a GP, clinical safety officer, clinical informatician and software engineer, criticises NHS England’s quiet removal of its open source policy webpages, dismissing the explanation that this was part of a routine website clean-up and that the NHS is now following government service standards.

He also makes a strong case for in-sourcing software development, claiming that outsourcing increases costs and weakens the NHS’s technical capability.

Baw also tells host Jordan Sollof, that the federated data platform is not delivering against its original ambitions and while adoption is growing, and expressed scepticism that changes at the top of NHS England would automatically lead to reform.

Looking ahead, he says the NHS should consider building its own cloud infrastructure through NHS-based data centres to reduce reliance on commercial providers, lower compliance burdens and reuse waste heat to power hospital estates.

Guest:

Marcus Baw, GP, clinical safety officer, clinical informatician, and software engineer

In this episode of Digital Health Unplugged, Judy Faulkner, founder and chief executive of Epic Systems, shares her journey from maths puzzles and early programming to building one of the world’s most widely-adopted electronic patient record (EPR) systems.

Speaking to Tammy Lovell, editor at Digital Health, Faulkner reflects on how she started Epic in a basement in 1979 with a handful of programmers, with the company valued at $70,000.

The US software giant has grown into the largest EPR vendor by market share, with its revenue estimated $5.7bn in 2024.

Epic's revenue is now an estimated $5.7bn in 2024, with the firm covering more than half of hospital patients in the US.

It also recorded the biggest gain in the UK's EPR market between January 2024 and March 2025, now holding around 10% of the NHS acute trust market.

Faulkner, who owns 43% of the firm, discusses her decision to remain privately held and mission-driven rather than answer to shareholders, and explains how her mother’s advice continues to influence her leadership.

The conversation also explores Epic’s immersive approach to product development, how AI is being embedded across the system, and Faulkner's vision for a more preventive, accessible healthcare system.

Epic will be at Digital Health Rewired, which takes place at the NEC in Birmingham on 24th-25th March 2026. Register here.

Guest:

Judy Faulkner, founder and CEO, Epic Systems