Ex-Science Minister Drayson warns over foreign 'colonisation' of NHS

Former UK science minister Paul Drayson has warned that the NHS risks being “colonised by American or Chinese software” if British companies do not move fast enough in developing their own technology.

Lord Drayson, who is also a biotech entrepreneur and whose artificial intelligence company Sensyne Health floated in London last year, said there were “fantastic innovations that have come out of places like Oxford”, but the challenge was “being able to create scale fast enough that they are able to compete with the likes of Google and Amazon”.

“I think the ability to meet that challenge is going to be a very important part of industrial policy for the UK over the next few years," he said. "Because if we don’t develop the ability in the UK to create technology which is applied in a way consistent with the values of the NHS, our healthcare system will end up being colonised by American or Chinese software, not developed from the values of the NHS.”

Lord Drayson, who was speaking at an artificial intelligence conference in Oxford, said government policy changes were necessary to encourage more long-term investment in the UK.

The Government has already set up a £2.5bn British Patient Capital fund to offer companies longer-term investments, but critics say the UK could go further.