Sokratis Papafloratos
Founder & CEO, NumanThis article is a sponsored feature, produced in partnership with Numan.
Arguing from the frontline of digital healthcare, Numan founder and CEO Sokratis Papafloratos makes the case that only an Open Banking-style, patient-controlled data framework can unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence in healthcare.
The UK aspires to be a global life sciences superpower. This is one of the pillars of the government’s Industrial Strategy, and for good reason. Few sectors offer such a powerful combination of economic growth and direct public good. Digital healthcare has the power to be a huge part of that, yet there is a growing tension at the heart of this ambition. We are building a 21st-century digital health system on 20th-century data infrastructure.
Healthcare in the UK is rapidly digitising. Patients move seamlessly between NHS services, private providers, and digital platforms, generating clinically valuable data at every stop. At the same time, artificial intelligence is no longer a future prospect in healthcare, it is already reshaping how patients seek care, how clinicians work, and how services are delivered.
More patients booked GP appointments online than over the phone in the past year for the first time, over 39 million patients are now registered on the NHS App, and many patients are increasingly turning to AI tools to interpret symptoms, understand test results or decide whether to seek care. Clinicians and providers are successfully beginning to implement AI to triage demand, reduce administrative burden and personalise treatment.
Artificial intelligence in healthcare is advancing quickly – often faster than policy and regulation can adapt – but the data foundations are not
The fact is that health data remains fragmented across NHS services, private providers, and digital platforms. And the result is duplication, delay, and missed opportunity – creating a gap is becoming a serious constraint on both care quality and the UK’s life sciences ambitions.
The debate is often framed around whether health data should be shared. That is the wrong question. Data already flows – just imperfectly, inconsistently, and without clear accountability. The real issue is who controls access, under what conditions, and with what safeguards.
We Have Seen This Issue Play Out Before in an Unlikely Place: Banking
Before Open Banking, financial data was locked inside institutions. Consumers had little visibility, limited portability, and no practical way to authorise third-party access. PSD2 and Open Banking changed that, establishing clear rules for consent, interoperability, and liability.
Specifically, a particularly powerful shift came through Account Information Services (AIS), which enabled authorised third parties to access aggregated financial data with explicit, time-limited user consent. Customers could grant read-only, purpose-specific access to their information, improving coordination and insight without increasing execution risk.
The Principles are Highly Transferable to Healthcare
Health data governance still assumes patients receive care within a single system, from a single provider, anchored to one institutional record of truth. That assumption no longer holds. Patients move between NHS services, private providers, and digital platforms. Each interaction generates clinically valuable data, yet too often, that information cannot be securely shared back into the wider system.
This matters not only for patient care, but for the UK’s competitiveness – particularly in life sciences.
For example, AI thrives on high-quality, interoperable data. But for this technology to deliver on its promise of earlier diagnosis, more personalised care, and better prevention, it needs access to accurate, up-to-date, and connected patient data. Today, this does not exist, and it creates a paradox. The UK cannot credibly aim to lead in AI-enabled life sciences while its data architecture limits what AI can safely and effectively do.
Innovation cannot exist in a vacuum – it depends on regulatory clarity. In England alone, responsibility for AI in healthcare is spread across multiple regulators and oversight bodies. For responsible innovators, navigating this landscape can be slow, fragmented, and unclear. That is not conducive to growth in a globally competitive life sciences market.
An Open Banking-style Approach to Health Data Would Address Both Problems
A consent-led, patient-centred national framework – allowing individuals to authorise specific providers to access defined parts of their record for clear clinical purposes – would create the conditions for digital healthcare and AI to flourish.
Access could be time-bound, purpose-specific, and revocable, supported by transparent audit trails and clear liability structures. Accredited private providers and NHS services could securely share information, improving coordination rather than entrenching silos. Patients would gain meaningful control, while clinicians would gain the visibility required for safe, effective care.
Trust will be critical. In banking, consumer confidence did not emerge from good intentions. It emerged from clear rules, defined liability, and visible enforcement. Health would benefit from a similarly clear framework. Likewise, patients trust systems when they understand who is responsible for what, and when regulators visibly uphold those standards. Clear governance would not slow innovation, it would accelerate it.
Digital healthcare is now a permanent feature of the UK health landscape. The genie cannot be forced back into the bottle. This is why the digital health conversation in 2026 needs to ask the question: are the data foundations beneath the entire UK ecosystem fit for purpose?
The Solution
For the UK’s life sciences strategy to succeed, it must address the data foundations beneath our national and digital health ecosystem. AI can make healthcare more proactive, personalised, and resilient, but only if regulation evolves at pace and patients are given control of their own data.
The choice is clear. We can continue with a fragmented system that is seemingly digital in form but analogue in function, or we can build a modern, interoperable, patient-centred data framework that underpins both better care and sustainable growth.
If we get this right, we will not just modernise healthcare and improve patient outcomes. We will strengthen one of the pillars of the UK’s Industrial Strategy and cement our place as a global leader in life sciences innovation.
This article features in the new edition of ChamberUK. Our parliamentary journal.
Photo Credit: Numan