As we step into 2026, we’re reflecting on the past year of The Only Way Is Ethics podcast. In 2025 we’ve hosted conversations with a range of leaders from the NHS, digital health startups, policy, academia… and one theme has consistently emerged: innovation.
From AI and emerging technologies to system reform and leadership, our guests have explored what it takes to innovate safely, ethically, and meaningfully in healthcare.
Yasmin Karsan (Episode 26) reminded us that the pressures of delivery timelines and KPIs can sometimes reduce compliance frameworks like DCB and DTAC to tick-box exercises. As she explains:
“I think when you’re working in health organisations, you obviously have the business needs and the key performance indicators you have to reach within a delivery timeline. And that also can instigate teams to utilise DCB and DTAC as a tick box exercise, which completely negates its point.”
Yet, the conversations also highlighted the opportunity innovation brings to healthcare. Rachel Murphy (Episode 30) reflected on the importance of new thinking:
“I think innovation is always a good thing. And I don’t think because people and companies have been in health care for a long period of time it entitles them to be the only ones that are in the mix. A lot of the tech that’s been around for donkey’s, some of it is, is less useful, I think is the most appropriate term than it could be, and this gives us the opportunity to bring in some of that new thinking.”
Tara Donnelly (Episode 30) explored why adoption isn’t always straightforward, emphasising the need for patience and understanding:
“Now there is a curve like there is in life, in terms of people who are really up to be on the early adoption end and people will take a bit longer to to get there, but it’s not an anti-innovative thing at all. It’s often that their experience of digital has in the past not been good. So you sometimes have to get past that bit of skepticism, and that’s because of their own experience not being not being good previously.”
Dr Rachel Grimaldi (Episode 29) spoke to the practical steps needed to make innovation easier and more effective:
“If we can make it easy for healthcare to innovate, to adopt new technologies, to implement them, to evaluate them, to get follow on funding, to jump through the regulatory hoops – whatever role AI plays in that, great – it doesn’t all have to be related to AI. That’s what I hope.”
Across these conversations, it’s clear that innovation in healthcare is not just about technology, it’s about people, culture, governance, and ethics. True transformation happens when teams are supported, challenges are acknowledged, and new thinking is welcomed alongside practical, safe adoption.
Looking ahead to 2026, The Only Way Is Ethics will continue to host these discussions, exploring how leadership, ethics, and innovation intersect in the evolving digital health landscape. From AI-enabled tools to system reform, the podcast will remain a space for thoughtful debate, real-world lessons, and inspiring ideas, helping health systems and innovators move forward safely, responsibly, and creatively.
Here’s to another year of challenging conversations, innovative thinking, and ethical leadership in digital health.
