Digital Health Podcast- Royal Society of Medicine

Clinicians are uniquely placed to identify the problems facing healthcare, but does that make them good entrepreneurs? And does the NHS provide the right environment for their ideas to succeed?In this episode Annabelle is joined by Dr Tamsin Brown to explore clinical entrepreneurship through the lens of the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme. We discuss what makes a successful clinical entrepreneur, the skills clinicians often lack, and why even the most promising healthcare innovations can fail.We also examine the barriers to innovation within the NHS, what needs to change to better support new ideas, and why entrepreneurship isn't the only route to impact and the value of supporting intrapreneurship.For more information on the programme and how to apply click here

In this episode, we explore the recommendations of the UK’s National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare, convened by the MHRA and bringing together clinicians, regulators, industry and the public. As generative AI meets healthcare, regulation is facing new and evolving challenges, how to support innovation whilst maintaining trust and patient safety in the face of technology that is evolving at an unprecedented rate. The National commission recommendations set our the UK's approach to tackling this challenge.Professor Alastair Denniston, Chair of the Commission, joins Annabelle to unpack the recommendations, what they mean for the future of AI regulation, and how the UK can balance safety, innovation and the unique opportunities of the NHS.Recommendations

In this episode, Annabelle is joined by Sarah Townley, Deputy Medical Director at MPS Medical Protection Society, to discuss the growing problem of the "liability sink"—where clinicians and healthcare organisations can end up carrying the legal risk for AI-assisted decisions. We explore why the law is struggling to keep pace with AI, what changes are being proposed, and the practical steps clinicians can take now to protect themselves while using AI safely in practice.This episode is based on the following reports from the MPS:Closing the AI Liability Gap: AI, safety, and the case for legislative changeThe Safer Practice Framework: Artificial Intelligence: Your medicolegal guide to using AI in practice

Vibe coding is making it easier than ever for non-technical people to build software- but healthcare comes with unique risks and responsibilities. This episode is a practical guide to using AI-powered development tools safely in clinical settings.We explore medical device regulation, GDPR, patient safety, and the common pitfalls those working in healthcare need to avoid, alongside real-world examples of low-risk, high-impact tools that can improve workflows today.Whether you're already building with AI or just curious about getting started, this episode will help you innovate while staying on the right side of regulation.

What happens when the timescales of rigorous evidence are fundamentally incompatible with the speed of health technology? In this episode, we're joined by Paul Wicks-research neuropsychologist, former BMJ editorial board member, and independent evidence strategist- to explore one of health tech's most pressing unsolved problems. We discuss why the traditional publishing system is struggling to keep pace with AI, how companies are navigating and sometimes circumventing the evidence landscape, and what a more strategic approach to research actually looks like in practice. We also ask the bigger question: does evidence generation in health tech need to be redesigned from the ground up, and if so, who should be leading that conversation?

In this episode, Annabelle is joined by Deb Cohen, author of Bad Influence, to explore how social media has become a major source of health information and how it is reshaping the way medical ideas, diagnoses, and treatments are promoted and consumed. We discuss the rise of the health influencer, the booming online market for health and wellness products, and why persuasive storytelling often outperforms traditional medical evidence. From parasocial relationships to fear-based narratives, we unpack the techniques being used to sell health online, how they interact with regulation, and what this means for patient safety, trust, and the future of medical truth in an attention-driven digital world.

In this episode, we explore what informed consent actually looks like when AI is involved in patient care. Annabelle is joined by Anthony Searle a barrister specialising in medical law, and together they unpack how UK consent law is created, how it applies to a world of clinical decision support, autonomous algorithms, AI scribes, and black-box models. They discuss when AI may change the risk profile of care, whether patients need to be told when AI is being used, and the practical challenge of explaining risks and limitations when even developers may not fully understand how some systems reach their outputs.With no case law, formal NHS guidance, or professional consensus yet on AI-specific consent, this conversation focuses on what can be done now. Including practical principles clinicians, healthcare organisations, and healthtech companies can adopt today- from transparency with patients, to clinician training, to AI providers being clearer about the known, and unknown, limitations of their tools.

Cybersecurity in healthcare is not just an IT concern—it’s a clinical risk. As systems, data, and devices become increasingly connected, vulnerabilities can directly impact patient safety, from disrupted hospital operations to compromised data and malfunctioning medical devices. In this episode, Florence shares insights from her unique background across aerospace, cybersecurity, and healthcare, and introduces TIPPSS—Trust, Identity, Privacy, Protection, Safety and Security—a practical framework for managing cyber risk at a systems level. This conversation explores why we must move beyond securing individual technologies and start thinking holistically about protecting patients in an increasingly digital and interconnected healthcare system.

What does it really take for the NHS to become a better partner for healthtech? In this episode, Annabelle is joined by Liam, to unpack why so many innovations struggle to move from pilot to practice. Drawing on insights from his recent workshop with the NHS Innovation Accelerator.Full NIA report can be accessed here

Annabelle speaks with physician-scientist and Google research lead Dr. Jake Sunshine about bringing loss-of-pulse detection from research concept to a regulated feature on consumer wearables. Jake shares the journey from early laboratory experiments to real-world deployment, and how his team designed an evidence strategy where no clear playbook existed—combining simulation, opportunistic clinical validation, and early regulatory engagement. It’s a powerful reminder that innovative technologies often require equally innovative approaches to generating evidence.