At the end of last year, we asked our market unit directors about their successes in the past year and their expectations for 2025. Managing Director UK & Ireland Darren Ransley said that 2024 was a year of growth and momentum for Better’s UK & Ireland team and that healthcare in the UK is set for a more connected, data-driven future in 2025. Read his thoughts below.
Looking back, how would you evaluate 2024? What milestones or challenges defined the year?
2024 was a year of growth and momentum for Better’s UK & Ireland team, now more prepared than ever to meet healthcare needs in the UK and Ireland. With expanded operational, clinical, and technological resources, plus a strengthened leadership team, we engaged widely across the industry, participating in key events throughout the year. Client growth was a highlight, with new contracts signed and notable expansion in use cases and user numbers. This reflects the rising demand for digital solutions that support efficient, person-centred care.
In the political landscape, the UK saw its first Labour government in nearly 15 years, promising renewed NHS investment. While funding has been slower than hoped, the commitment to a new digital strategy is encouraging, ensuring projects continue despite delays. Government backing is expected to foster a more innovative digital healthcare future. A notable 2024 achievement was South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust’s win at the HSJ Digital Awards for the impactful implementation of Better Meds ePMA, highlighting digital innovation’s role in transforming healthcare delivery and enhancing medication management.
The What were the UK market’s significant successes this year in business growth and customer impact? chart provides all t necessary data
2024 marked a key year in the UK market as five new Welsh Health Boards signed up for our ePMA journey, and existing customers such as The Christie expanded their deployments. The year also underscored the benefits of a platform approach, with multiple clients adopting a hybrid model of platform and application from Better. London’s Universal Care Plan expanded rapidly, adding new care pathways, such as sickle cell and is now viewed as the model to use for care planning at scale. We were also successful in our application to join the London Procurement Partners, Clinical Digital Health Solutions framework, which will allow us to transact directly with more Trusts rather than through 3rd parties.
How will emerging healthcare and technology trends shape the market next year?
AI remains a focus at Better, though it needs nuanced discussion. While AI holds transformative potential, its real value is in complementing rather than replacing clinical decision-making. We must view AI beyond simple assistance versus replacement, recognising broader possibilities for enhancing healthcare through thoughtful integration.
openEHR is also gaining ground. A year ago, few had heard of it, but today, it’s much better understood. Unlike older, closed approaches, openEHR enables open, standardised data that can be easily accessed and shared, a major benefit in healthcare. Together with AI, data trends, and openEHR, healthcare tech is moving towards a smarter, patient-focused future.
What are the key priorities and expectations for the UK market in the next year?
With the UK’s digital strategy accelerating in 2025, healthcare is set for a more connected, data-driven future. Better, with its digital health platform based on openEHR, is leading this shift, employing standardised data approaches through openEHR and FHIR, and providing low-code tools to fast-track user-centred solutions. AI will also play a central role. Better aims to use AI internally for development efficiency as well as externally to enhance user experiences, positioning ourselves to innovate quickly and create more responsive solutions. Better’s top goal in 2025 is advancing a digital future for healthcare by bridging data divides, dismantling vendor-locked data silos, creating an open, interoperable ecosystem, where data control rests with healthcare providers and patients.
