This event-write up brings together the ideas generated at Reform and Amazon Web Services’ policy hackathon ‘Time to update: Moving away from legacy IT in healthcare’.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the most serious civil emergency this country has faced in peacetime; unprecedented in its scale, complexity, and duration. Despite the fact that extensive central government machinery exists to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to civil emergencies, the pandemic has exposed critical shortcomings in preparedness and resilience.