As the government ramps up delivery expectations for the 10 Year Plan, latest polling shows confidence on the frontline is weakening, as only 1% feel fully prepared
- 96% say workforce pressures are preventing digital progress
- 61% feel unprepared to deliver digital commitments in the 10 Year Plan
- Only 28% feel prepared to deliver the NHS App digital front door ambitions, despite its widespread national use
- AI sits at the bottom of the priorities in the list of workforce capability needs
London, 02 December 2025: New survey findings ahead of Digital Health Rewired reveal that workforce pressures are the biggest cause for preventing digital transformation.
The latest survey from frontline leaders, including CIOs, CCIOs and GPs – published ahead of the imminent National NHS Workforce Plan - shows 96% say staffing strain is holding back progress, raising concerns about the feasibility of delivering national digital commitments at the pace expected.
Leaders highlight the rising demand on services (29%), insufficient workforce budget (21%), burnout and wellbeing pressures (13%) and difficulties retaining experienced staff (12%) as causing the problem.
Many describe their organisation’s digital readiness as “poor”, “chaotic”, “immature” and “patchy”, with concerns that ongoing organisational restructuring and shrinking digital teams do not reflect the growing skills and capacity required.
Commenting on the findings and real-world impact of implementing digital, Thomas Mickleright, a GP and Digital Transformation Clinical Lead for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said:
“We are being asked to deliver more digital change than ever, but teams are exhausted. There is no protected time and no capacity to take on new digital tasks when clinical demand keeps rising. The Workforce Plan in the spring must recognise the scale of this pressure.”
When asked about delivering the digital projects in the 10 Year Plan, 61% said they feel unprepared. And despite its widespread national use, only 28% feel ready to deliver the additional ambitions for the NHS App (managing appointments and bookings, offering advice and care, managing medicines).
Preparedness stands at 36% for delivering the Single Patient Record and 32% for the Federated Data Platform. Confidence falls further, to just 16%, for achieving the ambition to allocate 3% of annual spend to transformation.
Dr Paul Jones, Chief Digital Information Officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, added his thoughts:
“These findings underline what many of us see every day. Workforce pressures are now the biggest barrier to digital progress.
“If we are to achieve the proposed shift from analogue to digital and for these national programmes to really succeed, expectation must be matched with capacity, capability and protected time for teams to deliver change safely”.
Leaders say their workforce capability needs are overwhelmingly practical. Leadership and change management are ranked in the top two priorities by 42% of respondents, and clinical workflow skills by 34%. AI – one of the main digital priorities in the government’s 10 Year Plan - sits at the bottom of the priority list.
Karl Grundy, Managing Director at Digital Health, added:
“This is the first time clinical and IT leaders have had the chance to give detailed views on the achievability of digital plans in the 10 Year Plan. With the NHS Workforce Plan due next year, the results serve as a timely warning to government – ambitions are achievable, but not without further investment in the workforce.
“We need to treat spring next year as a turning point, to tackle these issues and support staff to scale digital and data. Rewired 2026 will bring the community together at exactly the right time to take stock and set out a realistic, sustainable approach to digitalisation”.
Digital Health Rewired 2026 will take place on 24 and 25 March at the NEC in Birmingham. The programme will explore the realities of digital readiness, workforce capacity and the challenges of delivering national digital platforms.