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Why Digital Health Partnerships work.

by Odelle Technology

1.0 Introduction: from “projects” to the operating model of the NHS

Over the past five years, digital health has stopped being a side-project in the English NHS and become part of the operating model: virtual wards, remote monitoring for long-term conditions, an expanded NHS App, and ICS-wide digital strategies are now central to policy and finance. NHS England+2NHS England+2

Behind that shift sits a cluster of enabling programmes that tried to answer a simple question: how do you actually deliver safe, inclusive, evidence-based digital care at scale in a complex system? The Digital Health Partnership Award (DHPA) was one of the earliest and most explicit attempts to test a partnership-based answer.

Launched in 2021 (then under NHSX), the Award funded NHS organisations to work with:

  • a technology partner (beyond a traditional supplier role)
  • a patient activation partner to support uptake, inclusion and reach
  • an evaluation partner to generate usable blueprints for the wider system

All projects were expected to support people to monitor and manage their health at home or in the community, and to demonstrate compliance with the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC). NHS Transformation Directorate+2NHS Transformation Directorate+2

By mid-2023, DHPA had funded 43 novel projects, supporting over 140,000 patients in under two years, with a focus on long-term conditions and “supporting people at home”. GOV.UK+1

This paper looks at what that initiative really tells us—about science, economics, politics and practical delivery—and how NHS organisations, ICSs and industry partners can use those lessons in 2026, whether or not the Award itself reopens.

2.0 Origins and design of the Digital Health Partnership Award

2.1 Policy roots

The DHPA didn’t appear in a vacuum. It is tightly aligned with:

  • The NHS Long Term Plan and subsequent 10-Year Health Plan for England, which emphasise a shift from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. NHS Long Term Plan+1
  • The 2022 government Plan for Digital Health and Social Care, which sets out an expanded NHS App “digital front door” and commits to using digital to personalise care and free up clinical time. GOV.UK

Within that context, DHPA was designed to accelerate remote monitoring and self-management for people with long-term conditions, and to prove that partnership-based implementation could unlock faster, safer adoption. NHS Transformation Directorate+1

2.2 Structure of the Award

Key design features:

This was not just about buying apps. It was about testing whether structured partnerships and rigorous assurance could de-risk innovation for ICSs and Trusts while still moving quickly.

3. Political and system context: NHS England, ICSs and digital care

3.1 ICSs as the delivery engine

By 2022, Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) became statutory bodies, controlling most NHS spend and expected to coordinate system-wide digital transformation across primary, community and acute care. Local ICS digital strategies now set the tone for how virtual wards, remote monitoring and digital inclusion are implemented. NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin+2Herts and West Essex ICS+2

Typical ICS digital strategies echo the DHPA model:

  • “Digital first, but not digital only” – use digital where it improves outcomes and experience, while maintaining non-digital routes.
  • Explicit commitments to tackle digital exclusion and health inequalities, often referencing national frameworks. NHS England+1

DHPA projects sit nicely in this architecture: they are concrete, evaluated exemplars that ICSs can scale or emulate.

3.2 Virtual wards and “supporting people at home”

Virtual wards (hospital-at-home models) have exploded since 2021, with a national programme aiming for tens of thousands of virtual beds and detailed operational guidance on patient selection, staffing, and technology. Research Briefings+3NHS England+3NHS England+3

Government and NHS England messaging now routinely group:

  • Virtual wards / hospital at home
  • Remote monitoring for long-term conditions
  • NHS App–enabled self-management

as a single out-of-hospital digital care agenda—precisely the terrain DHPA was designed to explore. The Guardian+3GOV.UK+3TheyWorkForYou+3

3.3 Politics: scrutiny, inequality and trust

Politically, digital health sits in a tension between hope and scepticism:

  • Parliamentary debates and POST briefings emphasise wearables, remote data and digital front doors, but also highlight digital exclusion and inequalities as major risks if policy gets the balance wrong. Care England+3House of Commons Library+3TheyWorkForYou+3
  • The Health Foundation and others warn that progress in tech-enabled care has often been slow and uneven, and that trust and confidence in digital are fragile, especially in marginalised groups. The Health Foundation+1

DHPA projects, by design, had to show how they were working with patients and addressing inclusion—so they are a useful laboratory for what the politics of digital inclusion looks like in practice, not just in strategy documents. NHS Transformation Directorate+1

4. Economics and evidence: what have we learned so far?

4.1 From “does it work?” to “does it matter?”

Most early digital pilots answered the question: “Does the technology work?” For payers, ICSs and Treasury, the question has shifted to: “Does it matter in the real world—clinically, operationally, economically?”

The DHPA portfolio sits alongside a growing evidence base on digital technologies such as myCOPD, which went through NICE Medical Technologies Guidance (MTG59). NICE’s external assessment found that myCOPD is clinically effective, with potential cost savings via reduced exacerbations and admissions when used appropriately. PubMed

The COPD Digital CHAMP project, funded through DHPA, extended this by evaluating a whole-system implementation model across BNSSG ICS:

  • Digital Health Champions (DHCs) were embedded across acute, community and primary care.
  • Quantitative analysis showed improved enrolment and engagement with the myCOPD app, with health economic modelling of the delivery model. Health Innovation West of England+2Health Innovation West of England+2
  • Qualitative research from the University of Bath unpacked barriers and facilitators to uptake for clinicians and patients (workflow fit, training, perceptions of self-management). Research Portal

This is a template the DHPA implicitly promotes: pair a NICE-recognised or DTAC-compliant technology with a robust implementation and evaluation design, then measure not just app downloads but service-level consequences.

4.2 Health economics in practice

Economic analyses from programmes like Digital CHAMP highlight several recurring themes:

  • Setup and coordination costs (champion roles, training, integration work) are non-trivial and need to be explicitly budgeted and, ideally, modelled.
  • Benefits accrue across organisational boundaries—for example, primary-care effort vs. reduced acute admissions—requiring ICS-level views rather than single-provider ROI. Health Innovation West of England+1
  • Data from virtual ward evaluations suggest that, when well-selected and staffed, virtual wards can reduce bed days and some readmissions, but benefits are sensitive to targeting and workforce capacity. Getting It Right First Time – GIRFT+2The Strategy Unit+2

DHPA did not create a single economic framework, but it forced projects to think economically—who pays, who benefits, and how to demonstrate value credibly enough for recommissioning and spread.

4.3 Evaluation and academic linkage

A subset of DHPA projects have resulted in peer-reviewed publications or formal reports—for example:

  • Digital health in Parkinson’s disease: scoping reviews and prospective studies examining attitudes to digital tools in Parkinson’s, some explicitly funded under “Digital Health Partnership Award – Supporting People at Home” calls. NCBI
  • Various DHPA-linked case studies in AHSN portfolios and local evaluation reports (e.g. West of England AHSN documentation on COPD Digital CHAMP, remote monitoring and digital self-management). Health Innovation West of England+2BNSSG Healthier Together+2

This matters politically as well as scientifically: Treasury, DHSC and NHS England are increasingly asking for evaluation data to justify ongoing funding for digital programmes, and DHPA projects are among the early sources of such evidence.

5. The Good: what has worked well?

5.1 Partnership as a real design principle

The Award has shown that partnership is not a slogan; it’s a set of concrete roles and behaviours:

  • NHS organisations that treat digital as service redesign, not just procurement.
  • Technology partners who co-design pathways, not just customise templates.
  • Patient activation partners (charities, community groups, specialist roles) who understand behaviour change and digital literacy.
  • Evaluation partners (universities, AHSNs, independent analysts) who build a learning loop into the programme from day one. NHS Transformation Directorate+2NHS Transformation Directorate+2

Projects like COPD Digital CHAMP make this very visible: Digital Health Champions had motivational interviewing training, worked across organisational boundaries, and were formally evaluated as an intervention in their own right. Health Innovation West of England+2Health Innovation West of England+2

5.2 Alignment with the assurance ecosystem (DTAC and beyond)

On the assurance side, DHPA has:

This is good economics: a clear, predictable assurance bar reduces transaction costs and the risk of “pilot then panic” failures when IG or cyber issues emerge late.

5.3 Early wins in clinical areas

The projects highlighted in early DHPA blogs remain illustrative:

  • Epilepsy and seizure video sharing – repurposing a remote monitoring platform originally used for COVID-19 to enable parents and clinicians to share seizure videos safely for children with epilepsy.
  • Little Hearts at Home (Alder Hey) – remote monitoring of infants with congenital heart disease to shift care to a more proactive, home-based model.
  • NeUro digital pathway – improving access to UTI management options for people with Parkinson’s, dementia and MS via the 111 service.
  • ELFT–Barnardo’s eating-disorder app – self-management and parental support for children and young people with eating disorders. NHS Transformation Directorate+2NHS Transformation Directorate+2

Across these and later projects, common successes include:

  • Earlier intervention (spotting deterioration sooner)
  • Reduced ED or emergency attendances in specific cohorts
  • Higher patient and carer satisfaction due to care being closer to home

Even where hard outcomes are still being quantified, these are clinically credible pathways that align with national goals around prevention, capacity and patient experience.

6. The Bad and the Ugly: pitfalls and unintended consequences

It’s not all good news—and a useful paper needs to be honest about that.

6.1 Digital exclusion and inequity

Multiple evaluations and frameworks now highlight the risk that digital health deepens inequalities if not designed inclusively:

  • NHS England’s framework for inclusive digital healthcare lays out practical steps but also makes clear that exclusion is a real and present risk. NHS England+1
  • The Health Foundation finds that trust in technology-enabled care is fragile, and that people with lower income, lower digital literacy or chronic illness can be sceptical or left behind. The Health Foundation

DHPA partly mitigates this by requiring patient activation partners and explicit inclusion strategies, but several project reports still note:

  • Lower uptake in deprived areas or among older patients unless proactive support is provided.
  • The risk that digital pathways assume access to devices, data and private space that not all patients have.

The lesson: “build it and they will come” is false. Resource-backed outreach and co-design are non-negotiable.

6.2 Fragmentation and fatigue

From a system and political perspective, there is a risk of programme fragmentation:

  • DHPA is one of many initiatives (SBRI Healthcare, AAC programmes, Innovation Open Calls, virtual wards, cancer innovation calls). GOV.UK+2bivdanewsletter.com+2
  • Local teams report “pilot fatigue”: multiple overlapping digital projects competing for the same clinical champions, data teams and operational bandwidth.

Without careful ICS-level coordination, DHPA-style projects can become isolated “islands of excellence” that struggle to scale because:

  • Coding, tariff and commissioning levers are not aligned
  • Data flows and EHR integration are brittle
  • Clinical teams are stretched across too many small initiatives

6.3 Governance churn and accountability

The governance landscape has also been in flux:

  • Responsibilities have shifted between NHSX, NHS Digital and NHS England, with more recent policy signals about structural changes to NHS England’s role in oversight. GOV.UK+2Research Briefings+2

This can create uncertainty for suppliers and ICSs:

  • Who owns the roadmap for DTAC updates?
  • How long will a specific funding stream last?
  • Who is accountable for spreading and sustaining a promising DHPA-funded model?

For now, ICSs and regional NHSE teams are increasingly the de facto owners of digital spread; that reality needs to be acknowledged in partnership design and risk-sharing agreements.

7. Open doors in 2026: how to be part of this (NHS & industry)

Whether or not the DHPA pot itself reopens, the model it tested is very much alive. Here is how different actors can engage.

7.1 For NHS organisations and ICSs

  1. Use DHPA as your “how-to” library
    The Transform site and AHSN case studies list projects, partners and contact points. These are ready-made blueprints for virtual wards, remote monitoring and self-management at home. NHS Transformation Directorate+2NHS Transformation Directorate+2
  2. Anchor new projects in ICS digital strategies
    Make sure digital projects are explicitly tied to:
    • ICS-level priorities (e.g. COPD, heart failure, mental health, cancer)
    • Virtual ward and remote monitoring plans
    • Digital inclusion frameworks and Core20PLUS5 equity priorities. NHS England+2NHS Long Term Plan+2
  3. Think in terms of roles, not just products
    • Budget for clinical champions, digital health champions and patient-facing support roles.
    • Commission an evaluation partner early, with a clear brief on outcomes, inequalities, workflow and economics.
  4. Treat DTAC as design input, not a tick-box
    Engage digital, IG and cyber security teams from day one; co-design documentation and processes with suppliers so that DTAC is built-in, not retrofitted. NHS Transformation Directorate+2TEWV NHS Trust+2
  5. Plan for scale and sustainability from the start
    • Align coding, contracting and business cases with national schemes (virtual wards, NHS App features, national procurement frameworks).
    • Decide early whether a successful project will move into core baseline funding, ICS-wide implementation, or a targeted high-need service.

7.2 For technology innovators and digital health companies

  1. Become genuinely DTAC-ready
    Don’t treat DTAC as a last-minute hurdle; integrate its requirements into product development, documentation, clinical safety processes and user-centred design. Naq+2Concentric Health | Digital consent+2
  2. Position yourself as a partner, not a vendor
    Be prepared to:
    • Co-design with clinicians and patients.
    • Co-invest in evaluation (data extraction, dashboards, health economic models).
    • Share learning openly so that evaluation partners can publish.
  3. Align with national priorities
    Map your use cases to:
  4. Understand the economics of your pathway
    • Use published evaluations (e.g. myCOPD NICE MTG, Digital CHAMP reports, virtual ward evaluations) as templates for your own value dossiers. PubMed+2Health Innovation West of England+2
    • Build scenarios that show impact on admissions, ED attendances, length of stay and staff time across the ICS, not just in one organisation.
  5. Work through the ecosystem, not around it
    Engage with AHSNs, the NHS Innovation Service, SBRI Healthcare and cancer or condition-specific innovation calls. DHPA projects have often been routed and supported through these networks. GOV.UK+2bivdanewsletter.com+2

7.3 What to avoid

From the DHPA experience, some clear “don’ts” emerge:

  • Don’t build tech in search of a problem. Anchor your proposal in a clear, ICS-backed clinical problem and a realistic pathway change.
  • Don’t ignore digital inclusion. Assume it will go wrong unless you explicitly resource outreach, co-design and alternative channels. NHS England+1
  • Don’t treat evaluation as optional. Without credible evaluation, even a clinically promising pilot will struggle to secure recurrent funding.
  • Don’t underestimate implementation effort. Digital champions, training, integration and change management cost money and time; pretending they are “free” just shifts the burden onto already-stretched staff.

8. Conclusion: beyond the Award

The Digital Health Partnership Award is best understood less as a one-off funding stream and more as an early prototype for how the NHS now expects digital to be delivered:

  • Partnership-based rather than transactional.
  • Evidence-generating rather than anecdotal.
  • DTAC-aligned rather than “we’ll fix IG later”.
  • Inclusive-by-design rather than digital-first by default.

It has funded 43 projects, supported over 140,000 patients, and produced some of the earliest real-world evaluations of partnership-driven digital implementation in English health and care. The Strategy Unit+3GOV.UK+3bivdanewsletter.com+3

In 2026, the specific badge of “DHPA-funded” may matter less than the template it leaves behind. Virtual wards, ICS digital strategies, the NHS App roadmap and wider innovation programmes are all now borrowing from that template:

Define the pathway, build the partnership, bake in assurance, measure what matters, and scale what works.

For NHS organisations and innovators who want to be part of this next phase, the route is clear: treat digital health as a long-term partnership between science, economics, and politics—not just as the next app launch.

References

Core DHPA and DTAC

Scale, impact and wider innovation context

Policy and strategy

Economics and evaluation

ICS strategies and local digital context

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