What happens when healthcare information goes digital
On 17th April, a group of healthcare leaders came together in a shared digital space to talk honestly about how people now access healthcare information, what is getting in the way, and what comes next.
The discussion was not about new tools or big announcements. It was about what teams are seeing week to week. How patients behave. How staff work around systems. And how digital decisions made a few years ago are now playing out in practice.
Below is a summary of the main themes from the discussion.
From printed leaflets to digital pages
For most trusts, patient leaflets are no longer something you mainly print. They live on the website.
That change has happened gradually, often driven by cost and capacity rather than strategy. Printing is expensive. Updating documents is slow. Once information is online, it is easier to fix errors, change contact details, or respond to service changes.
What has surprised some teams is how normal this now feels for patients. Mobile use continues to rise, and many people expect to be able to look things up when they need them rather than keep hold of paper.
Print has not gone away. It has just shifted. Pages are designed so they can still be printed when needed, without maintaining a separate document. QR codes are doing a lot of quiet work. They appear on letters, appointment information and even on equipment used by clinical teams, linking straight to the current guidance rather than whatever version happens to be in a drawer.
Keeping information accurate is easier online, but it still needs attention. Organisations are reviewing older leaflets to check they still reflect how services work today. Shared page elements for contact details help, but they only work if someone owns them.
The harder part is changing habits. Some staff still think in terms of “printing a leaflet” rather than “sending someone to the page”. There are also ongoing questions about who pays for printing locally, and whether older leaflets should remain available online if the core advice is still sound.
How AI is changing the way information is found
Another area that prompted reflection was the rise of AI as a route to information.
Some organisations are seeing large increases in traffic attributed to AI tools. Others suspect their content is being used without showing up clearly in analytics at all. Either way, it is changing how people arrive at information and how success is measured.
This has put more weight on the quality of what is published. AI systems rely on structure and clarity. When pages are vague, outdated or inconsistent, the answers people receive can be wrong.
In healthcare, that matters. It has prompted teams to think more carefully about how content is written, not just for people reading on a screen, but for systems interpreting it behind the scenes.
There was also caution. AI tools can give partial answers or make confident mistakes. Clear disclaimers still matter, as do obvious routes back to human support.
Internally, AI is already being used in practical ways. HR teams are using it to help staff find policies or answer routine questions. This has been useful, but it has also exposed problems. When policies are unclear don’t provide context or contradictory, the tool struggles. In many cases, the issue is not the AI, but the underlying documents.
Search, documents and the reality of internal systems
Internal search came up repeatedly. Improved search tools now scan the full content of documents, which helps when staff do not know file names. This has made information easier to find, but it has also increased the volume of results.
Ideas being explored include better tagging, clearer ownership of key documents, and “best bet” results for things staff need regularly. None of these are new ideas, but they require time and consistency to maintain.
Version control remains a familiar issue. In large trusts, old documents do not disappear on their own. Search surfaces what exists, not what should exist.
Some teams are experimenting with AI agents that pull answers from a limited set of trusted documents. These tools show promise, but they also make gaps obvious. If documentation is poor, the results are poor.
Looking ahead: where the opportunities sit
When the group talked about the future, the tone was cautious rather than ambitious.
Condition‑specific resource hubs were seen as a practical next step. For areas such as ADHD or autism, clear, well‑organised information could help people answer common questions themselves and reduce pressure on services. The challenge is keeping that information accurate and joined up.
There was also support for sharing more across trusts. Linking to national sources like NHS UK rather than rewriting the same information locally can free up time to focus on what is specific to each service.
The idea of a single NHS chatbot searching across all NHS websites was discussed, but with realism. Local differences in services and commissioning make this hard. Without shared standards and clear ownership, it risks adding confusion rather than removing it.
There was a sense that, over time, AI systems may place more weight on information quality. Clear structure, references and consistency may matter as much as volume.
Accessibility: preparing for WCAG 3.0
Accessibility was not talked about as a checklist exercise.
WCAG 3.0 is expected to focus more on whether people can complete tasks, rather than whether individual pages meet technical rules. That shift feels closer to how real users experience services.
Graded levels of compliance are likely, alongside more user testing and broader consideration of different needs. For digital teams, this means accessibility becoming part of everyday decisions about content and journeys, not something checked at the end.
What this means in practice
The discussion reflected a world that has already moved a long way towards digital‑first communication, often out of necessity.
Websites now carry more responsibility. They are where patients look first. They are where staff send people for answers. They are increasingly where AI systems go to learn.
That brings opportunities, but also pressure. Information needs to be clear, current and easy to find. Search needs to work in real situations. Accessibility needs to support real tasks.
None of this is about chasing new technology for its own sake. It is about making digital services quietly reliable, so they support the work happening around them.
With thanks to our special guests:
Andrew Crouch, Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
Zoe Chiverton, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Charlie Edwards, Medway Community Healthcare
Richard Pilton and Kelly Castle, Kayo Digital
The next event will take place in October 16th.
To be included, email harry@kayo.digital.
