Digital Health Podcast- Royal Society of Medicine

In this episode, Annabelle is joined by Deb Cohen, author of Bad Influence, to explore how social media has become a major source of health information and how it is reshaping the way medical ideas, diagnoses, and treatments are promoted and consumed. We discuss the rise of the health influencer, the booming online market for health and wellness products, and why persuasive storytelling often outperforms traditional medical evidence. From parasocial relationships to fear-based narratives, we unpack the techniques being used to sell health online, how they interact with regulation, and what this means for patient safety, trust, and the future of medical truth in an attention-driven digital world.

In this episode, we explore what informed consent actually looks like when AI is involved in patient care. Annabelle is joined by Anthony Searle a barrister specialising in medical law, and together they unpack how UK consent law is created, how it applies to a world of clinical decision support, autonomous algorithms, AI scribes, and black-box models. They discuss when AI may change the risk profile of care, whether patients need to be told when AI is being used, and the practical challenge of explaining risks and limitations when even developers may not fully understand how some systems reach their outputs.
With no case law, formal NHS guidance, or professional consensus yet on AI-specific consent, this conversation focuses on what can be done now. Including practical principles clinicians, healthcare organisations, and healthtech companies can adopt today- from transparency with patients, to clinician training, to AI providers being clearer about the known, and unknown, limitations of their tools.

Cybersecurity in healthcare is not just an IT concern—it’s a clinical risk. As systems, data, and devices become increasingly connected, vulnerabilities can directly impact patient safety, from disrupted hospital operations to compromised data and malfunctioning medical devices. In this episode, Florence shares insights from her unique background across aerospace, cybersecurity, and healthcare, and introduces TIPPSS—Trust, Identity, Privacy, Protection, Safety and Security—a practical framework for managing cyber risk at a systems level. This conversation explores why we must move beyond securing individual technologies and start thinking holistically about protecting patients in an increasingly digital and interconnected healthcare system.

What does it really take for the NHS to become a better partner for healthtech? In this episode, Annabelle is joined by Liam, to unpack why so many innovations struggle to move from pilot to practice. Drawing on insights from his recent workshop with the NHS Innovation Accelerator.
Full NIA report can be accessed here

Annabelle speaks with physician-scientist and Google research lead Dr. Jake Sunshine about bringing loss-of-pulse detection from research concept to a regulated feature on consumer wearables.
Jake shares the journey from early laboratory experiments to real-world deployment, and how his team designed an evidence strategy where no clear playbook existed—combining simulation, opportunistic clinical validation, and early regulatory engagement. It’s a powerful reminder that innovative technologies often require equally innovative approaches to generating evidence.