Harnessing digital tools and technology to empower children, young people and their families

• Digital tools and technology

• Prevention and early intervention

• Partnership working

Background

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, widely known as Alder Hey, is one of Europe’s largest specialist children’s healthcare providers, treating everything from common illnesses to highly complex conditions. The trust is also a teaching hospital, and works closely with the University of Liverpool and other academic partners.

Based in Liverpool, Alder Hey cares for over 450,000 children and young people each year, serving the local population as well as accepting referrals from across the UK. The trust is based in a highly diverse city, including communities with significant health inequalities and high levels of deprivation, with 30% of local children living in poverty (Liverpool Health Partners, 2024).

Setting a strategic approach

Alder Hey’s Vision 2030 (Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, 2024) was launched in September 2024. It recognises the challenges posed by rising poverty and deprivation, and the increasing numbers of children living with complex and long-term conditions. It is closely aligned with the government’s three shifts, emphasising neighbourhood-based models of care and shifting resources closer to where children live. 

The areas of focus outlined in Vision 2030 include delivering timely access to acute care, personalising care, supporting prevention and early intervention, and driving innovation, research and digital health solutions. 

Digital interventions

In line with this strategy, Alder Hey is harnessing digital, data, and AI-driven interventions to empower children, young people and their families to manage their health. 

The trust’s approach is centred around creating a digital infrastructure that mirrors clinical pathways, enabling different technologies to be integrated and tested at appropriate points along a person’s healthcare journey.

One of the trust’s flagship digital innovations is ‘AlderHey@nywhere’ (Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, 2022), an interactive platform designed to provide a hybrid access point for care for children, young people and families. Developed in partnership with Microsoft, Mindwave and the Alder Hey Innovation Centre, the platform offers a flexible, personalised way for children, young people, families and clinicians to manage, treat and coordinate healthcare needs. This includes providing support to children and young people with heart conditions, and mental health issues. 

AlderHey@nywhere was created as a response to increasing demand on hospital and community services, rising emergency admissions and growing outpatient waiting times. The platform focuses on preventative care and early intervention, while making healthcare more accessible, tailored and convenient. Through digital tools, educational content and virtual services, it supports families in managing health needs from home, while maintaining strong connections with hospital services.

The initiative reflects Alder Hey’s ambition to move towards a ‘hospital without walls’ model, breaking down traditional barriers to care, information and treatment. The team at Alder Hey recognise that digital exclusion remains a barrier for some children and families, and the trust continues to work with key partners to provide devices and support to families in deprived areas.

Key enablers

Strong partnerships are key to delivering on Alder Hey’s strategic vision. Collaborative work with Liverpool’s Mayor is critical to joining up health priorities and connecting local initiatives with national policy agendas. This relationship has also supported the development of innovative financial models, including pump-priming investment to test and scale new approaches, such as digital health interventions. In March 2025, Alder Hey received over £4m in funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, 2025) to boost the region’s position as a leader in children’s healthcare innovation.

Likewise, the trust has worked closely with system partners to advocate for greater focus on children and young people’s health. The formation of a dedicated children’s subcommittee of the local integrated care board, which Alder Hey sits on, has further strengthened system-wide alignment and prioritisation of this work.

At the organisational level, having clear strategic priorities and a well-defined clinical strategy has been vital in securing buy-in. The trust has prioritised internal communication and engagement, fostering conversations with staff about Alder Hey’s long-term vision, and the role staff can play in driving it forward.

Co-production with children, young people, and families underpins all of this, and was central to the development of Vision 2030. Extensive engagement, including events involving over 1,000 families, has helped the team to develop services and digital innovations shaped around the real needs and experiences of service users.

Role of national policymakers

The team at Alder Hey are supportive of the government’s three shifts, and the upcoming 10-year health plan. Both are viewed as an opportunity for government to prioritise the health of children and young people, and drive forward further progress on the digital agenda.

Alder Hey is a leader in digital innovation for children and young people’s services, but the team believe, with the right national support in place, there are opportunities to go further, faster. For instance, at a national level, equitable and proportionate investment in digital technologies for children and young people, digital inclusion programmes and focus on digital skills for staff are all key to scaling up and expanding the work already underway at Alder Hey.