Mend it before you spend it – budgeting wisely in the healthcare sector

Welcome to Made Tech Insiders, where we interview the talented individuals shaping our organisation.  We’ll explore career journeys, project highlights, and future tech trends, showcasing what makes Made Tech an exceptional place to work and innovate.

Jack Carter-Pearce opens up about what it really takes to drive meaningful digital transformation in the healthcare sector. He shares personal stories from his work with the NHS, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges and rewards of making real change happen.

Q: How did you start working in the health sector, and what do you enjoy about it?

I started my career working in change management in governance-heavy industries like financial services and the MOD. Eventually, I fancied doing something faster-paced and less strictly regulated, so I moved to the membership and voluntary/non-profit sector, focusing on customer relationship management systems, websites, and member portals. This is where I was really first exposed to large digital transformation projects. Now, at Made Tech, working with the public sector, I feel like I can make use of that different combination of experiences to deliver value in the best way possible.

I’m really chuffed to be working in the health sector now because I’ve always had a real interest in medical sciences. Everyone on a project team is likely to be an NHS patient at some point, so we’re doing it for ourselves too. Working on something that impacts the entire population is humbling and motivates you to do a good job. In the NHS, everyone wants to do well, and their attitude rubs off on you.

I know it’s a really difficult environment with legacy technology, processes that rely on manual intervention, and even paper. Despite all of that, everyone puts in 100 percent. You really want to add great value to the clients because of the way they work. You’d feel bad doing a poor job on a health project.

Q: What skills do you need to be a successful delivery manager?

In the health industry, especially with digital transformation projects, agile ways of working are ‘on trend’. However, the public sector, including health, often has a very waterfall-style governance structure. So the fact that I’ve got a traditional project management background has been really useful because things like risk management become incredibly important when dealing with clients in this sector.

Agile is great for focusing on maximising value for the user and getting to the right answer to the problem, rather than just delivering a predefined solution. But you usually need to meet stakeholders halfway, because the reality is you do have to take into account budget and time constraints. The client needs confidence in the process and the outcomes. So, using some traditional project management skills alongside agile is key. It’s all about applying the right level of governance to ensure success.

Q: What sets health sector technology apart from other industries?

The biggest difference in health is the clinical safety aspect. Every piece of software that could affect a patient must go through clinical safety checks to ensure it’s safe. This means making sure the technology won’t cause harm or display information incorrectly, which could lead to serious consequences or even death. There’s an extra layer of governance in health to ensure patient safety that other industries might not have.

So, at Made Tech we’ve made sure that clinical safety is integrated into our processes from day one. Some people build their product in an agile way and then, at the end, go, “Okay, we need to get it approved by clinical safety,” which can add an extra six weeks. But we bring clinical safety colleagues along with us from the start. They understand what we’re doing and provide input from the beginning. It’s almost an ‘assure as you go’ way of working to minimise timescales and reduce risks from the start.

Q: What are some of the challenges you face when delivering change? 

Resistance to change

In my experience, if you look at the change purely through a technology lens, the operational impacts can get ignored. This can lead to situations where new functionality isn’t used because there wasn’t enough training or communication. People generally don’t like change, and if it’s not introduced properly, it can lead to resistance and inefficiency.

66% of dissatisfaction with a system is down to how it’s been implemented rather than the system itself.”

Users often don’t care about the technical details; they just want the system to work and meet their needs. Making sure that an implementation is successful from day one means bringing the users on the journey with you and taking into account their feedback. Our job is to make sure that the technology supports the users’ needs rather than just using the latest technology for its own sake. 

Lack of joined up thinking

Another challenge is trying to get everything aligned to one common goal. Healthcare Trusts operate autonomously to an extent, so that they can independently make decisions about the technology they use based on their patient demographic and needs.

However, this autonomy can lead to many different versions of technology and software, making interoperability a significant problem. It also means at any one point in time, many different digital transformation projects are in train. 

The result of this is that whilst great value is delivered for a small subset of users or patients, it can often fail to deliver some low-hanging fruit for a wider set of patients just because they weren’t aware of a similar project in another area that could have been replicated.

It’s hard to be proactive and share information because it can take focus away from day-to-day project delivery. But in my experience, taking the time to communicate and spread the word about what we’re trying to achieve is crucial. Even if it doesn’t always deliver immediate returns, it means the sector can join up the dots and avoid missing out on opportunities.

Q: Where do you think budgets in the health sector would be best spent? 

That’s a great question. With current budget constraints and an urgent need to make things more efficient, it’s really important to decide whether to spend your money on new technology or to spend it on improving existing processes. I see people using workarounds on a daily basis to deal with inefficient processes and outdated legacy technologies – most of which we really shouldn’t see in 2024. I believe that healthcare organisations would get better returns trying to fix these first. 

For example, one of our projects involved digitising storage for paper records. It wasn’t the most technologically advanced solution, but it had a massive impact. We replaced physical paper records stored in warehouses with digital records accessible at the point of need. This significantly reduced the time and resources spent on retrieving records physically, freeing up staff to focus more on patient care rather than admin.

Another example is the Lloyd George records, which are traditional paper records that take up massive storage space. Digitising these records and creating a central storage solution accessible by any GP makes patient records readily available, which improves efficiency without introducing any complex new technology. These simple practical improvements directly impact patient care.

Q: Is AI the answer to everything in the health sector?

AI is definitely the buzzword these days, and it can offer significant benefits, but it’s certainly not the answer to everything. In the health sector, for instance, AI can review scans and flag potential issues without needing a consultant’s immediate input. However, a negative result from AI doesn’t necessarily guarantee accuracy. 

For example, digitising handwritten medical records using AI might seem efficient, but AI could struggle with hand-written notes. While AI can help search through digital records, there’s always a risk of missing critical information. In my opinion, AI should be used to complement and enhance existing processes, not replace them entirely.

Q:  Any final thoughts on how we can approach digital transformation in the health sector more effectively?

To my mind it’s about connecting the dots so that all digital transformation initiatives contribute meaningfully to the bigger picture. Chunking tasks into manageable pieces is essential, but it must be done with a clear understanding of how each piece fits into the broader puzzle. A commitment to joined-up thinking, means that our digital transformation projects have the impact we expect and ultimately improves the quality of care delivered to all patients. 

About the Author