Dr Matthew R Bennion

Digital Capability, Open-Source Use, and Interoperability Standards Within the National Health Service in England: Survey of Health Care Trusts Background: In 2016 NHS England sought to drive digital transformation within select NHS organisations through the Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) programme. While the programme did advance the NHS’ int...

🚀 Survey of 191 NHS trusts:
🩺 84% have digital dev teams
💻 But only 5.1% use Python despite it being NHS England’s preferred open-source standard.

Adopting Python could boost apps, collaboration & AI innovation.

🔗 humanfactors.jmir.org/2025/1/e6639...

#NHS #Python #DigitalHealth

Digital Capability, Open-Source Use, and Interoperability Standards Within the National Health Service in England: Survey of Health Care Trusts Background: In 2016 NHS England sought to drive digital transformation within select NHS organisations through the Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) programme. While the programme did advance the NHS’ int...

Full paper here: humanfactors.jmir.org/2025/1/e66398

Thanks to Richard Kenyon, Ross Spencer and Professor Roger Moore for their contributions to this work.

#NHS #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #Innovation #NHSDigital

The talent exists. The capability exists.
What’s missing is investment, coordination, and modern standards to scale innovation.

On the tech stack:
Most use C# (59%).
Few use Python, despite NHS England recommending it.

But here’s the gap:

Only 22% of teams have applied for innovation grants.

Just 15% regularly use open-source tech.

93% of these teams work directly with clinical staff to create solutions that fit real-world needs.

This is innovation happening at the point of care.

84% of NHS Trusts have in-house development teams delivering apps, websites, and digital tools.

These teams are already building the systems patients and clinicians rely on every day.

NHS digital innovation is alive and well but it’s being underused.
We ran the first national snapshot of in-house NHS software development teams across England. Here’s what we found 👇

#DigitalHealth #NHS #PublicHealth #HealthTech #NHSLongTermPlan

To everyone who worked on DWMP:
You did something meaningful. Page 65 is proof. You are seen. Your work matters.

We often celebrate innovation. But we also need to sustain the people and teams who deliver it.

I’ve spent most of my career building digital services that improve people’s health. It’s fulfilling work. And it only happens because teams like ours make it real.

Recognition and expansion in one part of the plan.
Disbandment in another.

Then I reached page 79.
It says our organisation is being shut down.

That programme was built by my team at Midlands and Lancashire CSU, a group of incredibly dedicated people committed to digital health.

Reading Labour’s 10-year NHS plan, one moment hit hard:
Page 65 highlights the success of the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme with plans to expand access to another 125,000 people a year.

I can't emphasise this enough after the announcement today of Labour's NHS 10 year plan.

I’ve been reflecting on the Health Secretary’s recent comments about wanting “more doers and fewer checkers” in the NHS. If that is truly the vision for the future, it is hard not to feel the contradiction, especially as the Commissioning Support Unit I work for is being scrapped. Here is the kind of work I've done over the years in both the NHS and academic research: I have led and co-authored empirical research on usability, conversational agents, resilience training, and e-therapies. All of it focused on real-world NHS workforce challenges. My work is hands-on. I design, build, and test digital tools, with measurable outcomes published in journals such as JMIR Medical Education, Frontiers in Psychology, and BMJ. I contributed to the development of a prototype AI companion for COPD self-management, to support patients through accessible, evidence-based technology. I have helped deliver systems used by thousands of patients and clinicians, translating ideas into meaningful frontline impact. This is what doing looks like. If we want an NHS that truly values delivery, innovation, and evidence-based practice, we need to look carefully at what, and who, we are choosing to let go. #NHS #DigitalHealth #Innovation #CSU #DoersNotCheckers

I’ve been reflecting on the Health Secretary’s recent comments about wanting “more doers and fewer checkers” in the NHS.

I couldn't fit it into one post so here's a screen cap of my LinkedIn version.

#NHS #DigitalHealth #Innovation #CSU #DoersNotCheckers

GitHub - mlcsu-digital-innovations/esr-bank-holidays: A Python script that gets the bank holiday dates from the UK Gov website for the current year and adds them to ESR as Annual Leave/Bank Holidays A Python script that gets the bank holiday dates from the UK Gov website for the current year and adds them to ESR as Annual Leave/Bank Holidays - mlcsu-digital-innovations/esr-bank-holidays

It’s that time again where NHS annual leave resets and we have the mundane task of entering the bank holidays into ESR. If you're a bit tech-savvy, I’ve got something to save you that time! My script imports all the bank holidays from the gov API straight into ESR. GitHub: github.com/mlcsu-digita...

I'd be keen to find out NHS staff and academic researcher perceptions, thoughts and feelings towards the new NHS Federal Data Platform run by US company Palantir.

@dr-know.bsky.social brilliant name change for Xmas 😂

As much as it pains me to say this I have to put my mental health academic hat on for the sake of ADHD and Autistics out there. ADHD and Autism are neurological disorders and OCD is a mental illness. Although all three can be comorbid.

Back here again already!?!

Hello, BlueSky! I work for the NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU, with a PhD in digital mental health therapies. My research explored chatbot therapy and the impact of digital tools on the therapeutic relationship. I’m passionate about improving mental health care accessibility through technology.

E-therapies in England for stress, anxiety or depression: what is being used in the NHS? A survey of mental health services. BMJ Open. bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/1/...

A Virtual Agent to Support Individuals Living With Physical and Mental Comorbidities: Co-Design and Acceptability Testing. Journal of Medical Internet Research. www.jmir.org/2019/5/e12996/

Frontiers | Technology for Healthy Aging and Wellbeing: Co-producing Solutions Methods to facilitate co-production in mental health are important for engaging end users. As part of the Technology for Healthy Aging and Wellbeing (THAW) i...

Technology for Healthy Aging and Wellbeing: Co-producing Solutions. Frontiers in Psychology. frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

Acceptability and Effectiveness of NHS-Recommended e-Therapies for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress: Meta-Analysis Background: There is a disconnect between the ability to swiftly develop e-therapies for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and stress, and the scrupulous evaluation of their clinical utility. This...

Acceptability and Effectiveness of NHS-Recommended e-Therapies for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress: Meta-Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research. www.jmir.org/2020/10/e170...

Usability, Acceptability, and Effectiveness of Web-Based Conversational Agents to Facilitate Problem Solving in Older Adults: Controlled Study Background: The usability and effectiveness of conversational agents (chatbots) that deliver psychological therapies is under-researched. Objective: This study aimed to compare the system usability, a...

Usability, Acceptability, and Effectiveness of Web-Based Conversational Agents to Facilitate Problem Solving in Older Adults: Controlled Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research. www.jmir.org/2020/5/e16794/

e-Therapies in England for stress, anxiety or depression: how are apps developed? A survey of NHS e-therapy developers Objective To document the quality of web and smartphone apps used and recommended for stress, anxiety or depression by examining the manner in which they were developed.Design The study was conducted ...

E-Therapies in England for stress, anxiety or depression: how are apps developed? A survey of NHS e-therapy developers. BMJ Health & Care Informatics. informatics.bmj.com/content/26/1...