Digital Health Rewired 2021: Roundup of day five

After five days, 10 summits and more than 300 speakers, Digital Health Rewired is sadly over for another year. However the last day has not been short of excitement – here is our roundup of day five. 

Earlier in the day, delegates heard from the national director for data and analytics at NHS England and Improvement, Ming Tang, who spoke about the “pivotal role” data played during the Covid-19 pandemic in her keynote at the AI and Data Summit.

Tang outlined the journey her team and its partners have been on since March 2020 and also shared how attention has turned to health inequalities in data, specifically looking at ethnicity and deprivation.

Then over lunch the much anticipated live final of the Rewired Pitchfest was held, with Peppy Health crowned the winner.

Peppy’s app connects people going through challenging health stages, including menopause, fertility and parenthood. Founder Mridula Pore said she was “delighted” after being named the winner.

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And if that wasn’t enough, in the afternoon there was the New Normal Summit. Delegates heard from Dr Alan Karthikesalingam, a research lead at Google Health UK, who said big tech companies have a role to play in assisting scientists to “turn the tide against this pandemic”.

Karthikesalingam also highlighted another area where technology companies have a role to play, misinformation.

Audiences also heard from Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, who said digital responses to coronavirus can be grouped into three main categories: ensuring care is safe for service users and staff; equipping the NHS workforce with the right tech to keep staff connected; and efficient use of resources to relieve “exceptional” pressure.

“There’s a real sense that now digital is everybody’s business,” he added.

Thanks to everyone who has attended Digital Health Rewired this year.