Features

In-depth articles about how we are improving health and care.

Pharmacist Aneta Paluch at her computer in Well Pharmacy

Electronic prescribing comes of age

The Electronic Prescription Service has transformed primary care prescribing in England. Christine Hague looks back at 18 years of the service and asks what's next.

An older woman sitting at a bus station wearing a surgical mask

Precision-guided public health

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a quiet revolution in how we use data to target health and care services at vulnerable individuals. John Windell looks at the data platform and algorithms that have helped make the difference.

Ousainou Sarr, Outreach Worker, NHS Find and Treat

Breaking NHS boundaries

Hyper-connected mobile units are helping a unique service in London protect some of the most vulnerable people in our society from TB, HIV and hepatitis.

Three clinicians dressed in PPE talking in a busy hospital ward.

Closing the information gap

Little was known about a new virus called “SARS-CoV-2” as it began to spread across the globe at the end of 2019. Clinicians didn’t even have a clinical code to record cases. NHS Digital was part of the effort to build and share the information that is crucial to fighting the virus.

A warning that someone's data has been encrypted as part of a ransomware attack pops up on a computer screen.

A clear and present danger

Ransomware is a growing threat across the health and care system. NHS cyber security experts describe how it can affect organisations and what is being done to combat it.

Know your enemy

In just over a year, the UK’s COVID-19 testing capacity increased from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of tests a day. This achievement has been crucial to the fight against the virus – and the sinews of the system are digital.

Person with a rolled-up sleeve getting vaccinated.

A vital injection

Developing COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year showed the extraordinary capabilities of modern medical science. The next challenge? Getting those shots into tens of millions of arms. Digital technology is playing a crucial role.

Dr Mona Johnson outside Eyam Surgery in Hope Valley, Derbyshire

Everything is clinical

For the clinical team at NHS Digital, the job is about putting sound medicine and an understanding of the way people tick at the heart of NHS technology. Adam Green finds out more about their work.

NHS DigiTrials: Already saving lives

A new approach to supporting clinical trials helped researchers develop some of the most vital COVID-19 treatments - and is making it easier to quickly and safely test new medicines.