Every year, new digital tools promise to ease the strain on hospitals and make care more efficient. But according to the BMJ-DNV Future Health Commission, those promises are still falling short.
In the latest BMJ survey of healthcare professionals across Northern Europe, clinicians say digital health has improved patient data access and care delivery, but not the day-to-day experience of working in healthcare. Productivity and workload benefits remain elusive, and trust in digital systems continues to waver.
Here’s a closer look at what the survey uncovered, why trust and usability remain sticking points, and what needs to change for digital health to actually deliver on its potential.
What the BMJ survey did
The BMJ Future Health Commission, launched jointly by BMJ and DNV, an independent assurance and risk management provider, set out to understand whether digital health tools are truly delivering impact from the clinician’s perspective.
The BMJ-DNV report surveyed over 300 healthcare professionals, including clinicians, managers, and technology leaders, with in-depth interviews across hospitals, clinics, and administrative offices.
They captured both hard numbers and lived experience to paint a clear picture of where digital health is working and where it’s falling short.
Key findings: Expectations vs reality
1. Digital health’s promise hasn’t matched practice.
Less than half of healthcare professionals believe digital tools have reduced their workload or costs.
- Only 47% say administrative tasks have eased
- 38% say clinical workload has dropped
- 44% think costs of care delivery have fallen.
2. Optimism still runs high.
Despite these frustrations, 80% clinicians say digital tools have improved care delivery, and 76% remain optimistic about healthcare’s digital future.
3. Electronic health records remain the biggest paradox.
EHRs are the most widely used technology and the biggest source of frustration. Clinicians who use EHRs daily are 14% less likely to see efficiency gains.
The more they use the system, the more they notice its design flaws and how it interrupts workflow. Many say the systems are unintuitive, time-consuming, and pull them away from patient care.
4. Interoperability and funding issues persist.
Systems that don’t talk to each other remain one of the top barriers to adoption. Clinicians waste time switching between platforms, re-entering data, or tracking down missing records, often putting patient safety at risk.
Interoperability ranks just below funding constraints as the biggest obstacle to adoption.
5. Clinician involvement matters a lot.
Over half of respondents (54%) say digital tools gain traction only when backed by clinical staff. Another 61% believe clinicians should have a stronger voice in deciding which technologies to invest in.
6. Training and support are falling short.
Only 45% of clinicians and 43% of non-clinical staff feel they’ve had enough training to use new digital tools confidently. Many described “training fatigue” and the lack of continuous learning after system rollout as key obstacles to confidence and adoption.
Trust: The missing link in digital transformation
BMJ survey’s core finding is that trust underpins everything. And right now, it’s fragile.
Only 59% of healthcare professionals say they trust digital technologies, while 30% remain undecided.
DNV, which has decades of experience building trust frameworks in safety-critical industries, like aviation and energy, emphasises that healthcare’s digital transformation can only succeed when clinicians truly trust the systems they use.
That trust, the report shows, is built on four foundations:
- Reliable systems: Poorly designed EHRs and disconnected platforms have eroded faith in technology. Fixing usability and interoperability is the first step.
- Clear standards: Fragmented systems create uncertainty. The European Health Data Space (2025) aims to enforce common interoperability requirements. A step DNV says is crucial to restoring confidence.
- Training and involvement: Clinicians must be active participants, not passive users. Trust grows when they help shape, test, and refine digital tools.
- Data safety and governance: Nearly half (47%) of respondents reported patient safety risks linked to digital tools, while 64% said patient data was incomplete. Data quality and cybersecurity are now fundamental to trust.
In other words, as DNV notes,
“Trust in digital health doesn’t come from technology alone; it’s earned through human-centered design, safe systems, and shared accountability.”
Why do these gaps exist?
Poor design and integration: Many tools don’t match how clinicians actually work, forcing extra clicks, duplicating tasks, or interrupting patient flow.
Erosion of trust: Past failed rollouts, lack of transparency, and minimal clinician input have left users sceptical of new digital initiatives.
Systems that don’t communicate: When hospital, primary care, and diagnostic platforms don’t share data, efficiency gains are impossible.
Short-lived training programmes: Staff often receive crash courses during go-live phases, but little to no support afterwards. Confidence fades fast without continued learning.
Top-down decision-making: Procurement and policy decisions are often made without the clinicians who use the systems daily, leading to poor adoption and frustration.
Recommendations from the BMJ Commission
The BMJ Future Health Commission proposes a practical roadmap to narrow the gap between promise and performance:
1. Fix what’s broken first
Before scaling new tools, rebuild confidence in existing EHR systems by addressing usability and integration issues that slow clinicians down.
2. Make systems talk to each other
Enforce shared data standards for information to move securely and smoothly between hospitals, clinics, and community care.
3. Invest in real training, not one-off sessions
Support staff with ongoing learning and troubleshooting, not just during deployment but throughout the system’s lifespan.
4. Put clinicians and patients in the room
Include healthcare workers and citizens in decisions about which technologies to design or buy. Tools built with them are far more likely to succeed.
5. Build safety and accountability into every new rollout
Keep data quality, privacy, and regulatory compliance at the core of digital transformation, not as an afterthought.
What this means for health systems and clinicians
The BMJ Future Health Commission survey reveals the wide gap between the digital health we hope for and what clinicians experience.
Closing this gap will not come from having more tools, but rather from smarter deployment, deeper trust, and stronger alignment between technology and practice.
For health systems, this is a call to go slower in some ways; to shore up foundations before chasing flashy new tech. Buying a “smart tool” without fixing poor EHR usability or lack of integration is unlikely to yield gains.
For clinicians, it’s about having a real voice in design, rollout, and training so that technology aligns with how care is actually delivered.
And for patients, the promise remains: digital tools designed well and trusted by those who use them can deliver safer, more accessible, and more equitable care.
-By Rohini Kundu and the AHT Team
