The 10-Year Health Plan commits £600 million to a Health Data Research Service and promises to make the NHS “the most AI-enabled health system in the world.” It envisions a single patient record, data-driven transformation, and technology that revolutionises the delivery of care. But while clinical data initiatives capture headlines, operational data already flows through the NHS at an extraordinary scale. This data can reveal where capacity exists before waiting lists grow and expose workforce stress before it leads to a collapse in retention. It also has the potential to reveal spending patterns that clinical datasets often fail to capture. In short, operational data frequently holds the keys to better care, a happier workforce and greater efficiency.

For example, in Norfolk & Waveney, creating a unified procurement catalogue with over one million standardised products revealed £7.3 million in savings that were previously invisible. This was because the same items were being purchased at different prices, because no one could see across the system. Workforce analytics, which process data from 1.8 million NHS employees, can now predict staff departures with 95% accuracy, showing a retention crisis months before trusts experience the impact on clinical capacity. Operational intelligence exists, yet these insights are too often trapped in fragmented systems and disconnected from strategic decisions about the NHS’s future.

In this webinar, we’ll explore what data infrastructure the NHS genuinely needs to deliver on its digital promises. How do we create a single source of truth for spend and resource allocation when standardised classifications don’t exist across the system? What governance models build public trust after past controversies? As the government explores plans to unlock the value of health data, what role should existing operational infrastructure play in shaping future strategy?

The conversation will be wide-ranging. It will examine where data-driven automation genuinely returns time to frontline teams and why corporate services must become the foundation for AI-ready data. These connections matter because data infrastructure isn’t a series of separate projects; it’s one cohesive system that either works together or fails in siloes.