Healthcare management has come a long way since the days of paper and manual processes. This writer well remembers a parent being handed their X-Rays to be carried from one health provider to another in order to speed up diagnosis and the development of a treatment plan. Nowadays, those X-Rays and associated patient records can be digitised; available to be transferred or retrieved at the touch of a button.

With digitised data comes the opportunity to deliver something more than a simple linear treatment plan. Quite simply, moving patient information online opens up the pathway to integrated healthcare delivered by multi-disciplinary teams; in the process potentially transforming health management in particular for those with multiple or lifelong conditions.

Two examples of the way in which online access can open up integrated healthcare hit the headlines in September 2025. The first, saw the launch of neighbourhood health services in forty-three areas of the country. The areas chosen to benefit from the first wave of these services are those which have traditionally seen the lowest life expectancy and longest treatment waiting times in the country.

By linking healthcare, the voluntary sector, and the wider community the new programme aims to move services such as diagnostics, mental health, outpatients, rehab, nursing and social care away from specialist centres and closer to home. Trials in one area in London saw a lowering of A&E admissions by 7% and hospital admissions by 10%.  In Cornwall another trial lowered unplanned GP appointments by 7% whilst increasing vaccinations by 47% and cancer screening and NHS health checks by 82%. As Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said: “Locating services in more convenient places for patients can mean earlier support, quicker diagnosis and fewer barriers to accessing vital treatment.”

The second example, announced at the end of September, comes in the form of an ‘online hospital’ to be known as NHS Online. This service is not expected to be rolled out until 2027 and with a gradual introduction may not be fully operational until some time after that. However, the new scheme is expected to deliver the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years.

The idea behind the NHS Online offering is to digitally connect patients to clinicians who may be based anywhere in England. Using the NHS App as the focal point of contact, the service will enable integrated healthcare; with patients being able to book not just GP appointments but also follow-up scans or hospital appointments at a time and place which best suits them. Not only that, depending on the nature of the condition, it is expected that patients will also be able to have an online consultation with their chosen specialist from the comfort of their own home.

Commenting on the new scheme Dr Jeanette Dickson, Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said: “This is a novel and potentially game changing way of improving equity and speed of access to NHS services, which would reduce health inequalities.”