Case study: NHS

NHS
healthcare digital transformation
  • £10M savings in the first year: Achieved through streamlined processes and automated workflows.
  • 12,000 Employees connected through SharePoint: Facilitating better collaboration and information sharing across departments.
  • 8% Reduction of time spent on manual tasks: Freed up employee time for more valuable activities, increasing productivity.

As one of the UK’s most vital public services, the NHS is under constant financial scrutiny. Funded by the public, every financial decision is carefully reviewed to ensure maximum value and, more importantly, that savings are redirected towards patient care. Improving efficiency in administrative, operational, and IT systems can directly influence patient outcomes by freeing up resources for frontline services. Technology, therefore, plays a critical role in improving efficiency, reducing overhead, and overcoming budget constraints.

The Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU) faced unique challenges following a recent merger. The newly formed organisation had to provide IT support for 50 NHS Groups, each with its own infrastructure, document management system, and way of working. A standardised digital transformation was needed to unify these Groups under one consistent system that could still accommodate the diversity of each Group’s needs. The challenge was to ensure that all staff had access to accurate information, standardised processes, and collaborative tools that would drive efficiency and prevent administrative errors that could impact patient care.

The MLCSU sought a healthcare digital transformation that would: 

  • Deliver long-lasting benefits from their SharePoint estate
  • Adapt to the needs of diverse NHS Groups 
  • Minimise disruption by integrating with ongoing projects
  • Automate repetitive tasks to save time
  • Streamline processes and workflows across departments
  • Enable MLCSU teams to become self-sufficient in managing their IT systems
  • A PMO application with intelligent feeds and automated workflows for project management
  • A self-service annual leave tool with built-in leave calculations
  • Integration of Planner for organising meetings and team activities
  • Supported rollout of Skype for Business within MLCSU
  • Migration of NHS Mail to Exchange Online

Our tailored digital solution for the NHS delivered a comprehensive and future-proofed Microsoft 365 ecosystem, combining cloud-based solutions with customised applications and streamlined workflows. This resulted in:

  • Significant financial savings across the Groups
  • Reduced time spent on repetitive tasks and more efficient information access
  • Improved collaboration through joined-up workflows across departments
  • Boosted productivity and operational efficiency

One of the most significant benefits has been the long-term impact of the transformation. The solutions we developed remain in use today, with MLCSU continuing to leverage their SharePoint Online investment. They have since migrated several workflows to Power Automate and are exploring Power Apps to further enhance their digital capabilities. The migration process has been refined over time, allowing MLCSU to efficiently move new Clinical Commissioning Groups to the cloud, ensuring consistency in digital infrastructure across all Groups.

Years into their Microsoft 365 journey, MLCSU has seen an impressive return on investment (ROI). The ongoing savings from the digital transformation are projected to grow into the millions over the next decade, allowing the NHS to redirect much-needed resources into life-saving initiatives and patient care.

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