How we can lay the groundwork for the NHS Digital Future

September 25, 2025 1:28 pm

Written by By Jamal Burns, Healthcare and NHS Lead at Freshwave

NHS England’s latest ten-year plan is ambitious and well-funded, channelling billions into digital tools, integrated data, and smarter patient care. All with the objective of pivoting healthcare from treatment to prevention and shifting treatment in hospitals to community-based care where possible. To achieve this, the plan emphasises the need to harness technology to ease staff administrative burdens and allow patients to manage their health like they would a bank account.

But digital transformation can only go so far without robust mobile connectivity inside NHS buildings. Unfortunately, this is far from guaranteed as hospitals often struggle with signal indoors due to thick walls and complex layouts. 4G and 5G signals, which can’t reliably penetrate from outside, need help from dedicated, multi-operator systems that bring signal indoors from networks like EE, Three, Virgin Media O2, and Vodafone.

Recent research found that C-suite leaders and IT decision makers in the NHS and private healthcare believe that poor indoor mobile connectivity is costing the UK healthcare sector £3.79 billion annually. The fallout is very real: disrupted communications, delays accessing electronic patient records, inefficient workflows. Dropped calls, stalled data sessions, and unreliable alerts on mobile devices don’t just cause frustration – they slow down care and, in some cases, put lives at risk.

The upside? This is fixable. Most of that £3.79 billion is recoverable. Reliable multi-operator in-building connectivity allows both clinical and support staff to work more efficiently and deliver care more effectively. The lost time – whether it’s staff unable to reach one another, delays accessing notes, or time spent chasing updates – can be reclaimed. With dependable mobile coverage, patient records can be updated right at the bedside. Outdated systems like pagers can be replaced by real-time communication platforms such as Alertive. The result: less time on admin, more time with patients and reliable business continuity.

In fact, according to our mobile connectivity ROI survey, 62% of senior executives and digital leaders from the healthcare sector said better indoor mobile connectivity could boost workplace productivity, making it the biggest opportunity for improvement.

Mobile connectivity is no longer just a “nice-to-have”. It’s now a core piece of NHS infrastructure. Hospital Wi-Fi often struggles under the weight of demand and mobile coverage provides an invaluable layer of resiliency. Without this dual connectivity approach hospitals face serious business continuity risks. From remote consultations to e-prescribing and real-time alerts, the entire digital care ecosystem depends on seamless connectivity. We’ve all seen what happens when that fails: systems crash, staff scramble back to pen and paper, communication grinds to a halt, waiting lists extend, and crucial issues are missed.

This doesn’t just affect staff. Patients and families feel the impact too. Without reliable mobile signal, someone waiting for test results may be unable to check the NHS App. A friend trying to reach a patient in A&E might not get through. Nurses, instead of focusing on care, are sent on signal-hunting missions just to update a record. These seemingly small issues add up to delays, stress, and a healthcare experience that feels anything but digital. With loneliness known to impact recovery, every missed connection matters.

This matters even more as the NHS leans into mobile-first services. The 10-Year Plan envisions a future of integrated records, app-based bookings, remote monitoring, and patient-led journeys. By 2028, the NHS App is expected to be the central digital gateway for healthcare – a “doctor in your pocket”. With more than 34 million users already and a growing ecosystem of health apps being developed, it’s unsurprising that 65% of respondents to our survey of senior executives and digital leaders in healthcare said that technology like remote patient monitoring and management is driving demand for better indoor mobile connectivity.

But all that ambition stands on shaky ground without one simple thing: strong, reliable mobile signal across the estate. You can’t open a digital front door if you can’t connect to it. The good news is that hospitals don’t need to be rebuilt to solve this. Some NHS trusts are already taking action. Room-by-room, or department-by-department coverage solutions can bring signal into even the trickiest spaces, supporting not only clinical staff but also patients, visitors, porters, and estates teams – everyone who relies on connectivity to keep care flowing.

There’s also urgency. The planned switch-off of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) by January 2027 is a major milestone, accelerating the NHS’s shift away from copper-line telephony to fully digital communications. With the NHS App set to become a digital front door by 2028, any delays in building out mobile infrastructure could have a cascading effect. It’s a decisive moment for the NHS, with mobile connectivity now a fundamental requirement for both immediate service delivery and long-term innovation. The steps taken in the next year or two will determine whether the digital tools being developed can actually be used effectively across the estate.

To ensure the delivery of the NHS’s digital future, we need to start with the basics. Because without rock-solid mobile coverage, everything else risks remaining just out of reach.