GIANT Health 2024: Transforming healthcare through innovation and collaboration

Held on December 9-10 in London, GIANT Health 2024 brought together experts from various sectors of healthcare to discuss the future of health innovation. With six different agenda streams, the event provided a platform for conversations around technology, policy, and clinical practice, with a particular focus on the intersection of innovation and care delivery.

The Thalamos team were in attendance and captured some of the key themes and insights from GIANT Health 2024.

Digital health transformation

One of the major topics of the conference was the role of digital tools in reshaping and improving how vital healthcare services are delivered. From AI-driven diagnostics to digital platforms that reduce admin burdens and free up time for clinical decision making, sessions explored how technology is helping both healthcare professionals and patients.

However, making sure ambition turns into a reality was also a key topic of discussion. Whether that was ensuring NHS strategies actually lead to transformation rather than simply gathering dust or whether frontline workers are sufficiently involved in plans, clinical leaders looked at what needs to change. Anna Bokobza, director of strategy at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust said it was important to differentiate between a strategy and what she called a “fancy plan”, with decision makers often over-complicating things by giving it a strategy label.

AI and data in healthcare

As it is in many areas, AI was a key theme throughout the event, with experts discussing its potential to transform areas such as robotics-assisted surgery and predictive analytics. While much of the conversation around AI centres on the upside, one panel looked at the trouble with AI in healthcare?– asking whether issues in AI such as bias are being de-prioritised by a focus on the possible transformative impact the new set of technologies could have.

The common consensus was that AI shouldn’t result in a workforce reduction, rather take over tasks that produce excessive admin demand on health workers, identify areas of system friction and provide data-based insights that can lead to better decision making.

Community and patient-centred innovation

Innovation, many conversations during GIANT Health concluded, is most effective when it involves collaboration. This was particularly evident in sessions that focused on co-designing healthcare solutions with communities and eventual frontline users.

If rigorous needs gathering and alignment with current ways of working are not sufficiently completed then NHS organisations run the risk of ending up in scenarios where older, more paper-based ways of working end up being more efficient than the new digital process.

In a session called “Slower than handwriting: How digital systems fail to deliver time savings to users, and what we can do about it”, panel members asked for a key question to be asked. How does a clinician see the benefit if it’s more about the pathway as a whole?

Across the two days, examples of successful community-based care models demonstrated how cooperation between the private sector and the NHS can create scalable, impactful solutions.

"We need to fix the basics...then we can focus on keeping up with innovation." Richard Meddings, NHS England Chair

Entrepreneurship and innovative companies

The conference also provided a platform for health technology businesses to showcase innovations. From AI-driven diagnostic platforms to personalised care apps, the startup showcase highlighted the entrepreneurial energy driving healthcare forward. In an investment-focused panel discussion, experts from venture capital firms and angel investment groups looked at the specific challenges and opportunities facing startups in healthcare and life sciences as each transition into the commercial arena.

In sessions designed to bring private sector innovation and the NHS closer, discussions looked at best practice procurement strategies and. From formal bid responses to securing listings on appropriate frameworks, a focus was placed on selling outcome-based benefits rather than tech features.

The NHS’ ongoing partnerships with private firms were seen as crucial in building systems that are not only efficient but also resilient and focused on patient care.

A collaborative vision for the future

A key takeaway from the conference was the importance of collaboration among all stakeholders – clinicians, technologists, policymakers, and patients. Speakers across various sessions highlighted the need for private sector partners to work closely with the NHS, particularly with clinicians and frontline workers where possible, to drive sustainable innovation. By combining technological advances with system-focused innovation plans, such as equitable access and workforce training, the event painted an optimistic picture of the future of healthcare in the UK.

As outlined by outgoing NHS England Chair Richard Meddings, decision makers need to align on relatively few key priorities so that genuine progress can be made. He also emphasised the need to remember that the NHS is an ecosystem, rather than a single organisation, and so instructions guiding innovation and change cannot simply by issued from up high and trickle down.

GIANT Health 2024 demonstrated how the fusion of technology and human-centred design can create more resilient, inclusive, and efficient health systems.

Thalamos is a profit-for-purpose business which builds and deploys software to improve outcomes in the assessment and treatment of mental iIlness. We support the professional users of our clients to co-ordinate urgent care across organisations and geographies. We build intuitive, joined-up solutions for complex and disparate medico-legal pathways. Our Mental Health Act workflow software is currently in use in multiple Mental Health trusts in the NHS, across London by the Metropolitan Police, and nationally by the CQC. In 2024 we are expanding our reach even further, including implementing a Pan-London NHS programme.

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