In 2023, NHS England signed a five-year deal to provide Microsoft 365 and Teams to 1.5 million doctors, nurses, clinicians and support staff. 

The £774 million deal intended, in the words of John Quinn, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at NHS England, to “create a platform for innovation so that NHS workers always have the latest digital tools to help them focus on frontline care.” 

There is evidence to show that Microsoft 365 and Teams can make huge efficiency improvements in the NHS. In fact, research from NHS Digital reports that Teams alone saved 2.9 million hours across England in just six months.  

But we believe Microsoft 365 could do much more – and we know that NHS organisations want to access the untapped resources it offers.  

Investment in optimisation  

Whenever we embark on a new digital transformation programme with an NHS organisation, they want two things: to save time and money.  

There are countless systems out there promising to do just that, but our advice is always to identify opportunities to optimise existing systems first. With a significant number of  IT systems already in place to manage health and care in the NHS, adding another one into the mix should be considered with caution.  

We also know that the success of any digital transformation programme depends not on the choice of system but on the training, infrastructure and clinical engagement supporting it.  

With this in mind, we spoke to digital leaders across the NHS in England to discuss their experiences of Microsoft 365. There are three things they all want to do:  

  • Get the foundations right for optimising Microsoft 365. That comes down to everyone having the right tools and being trained to a shared level of competency and confidence, and systems being set up in a sound and secure environment from the start.  
  • Properly leverage the basics so that the promised efficiencies can be achieved. 
  • Identify duplicate functionality across other systems they have in place and then use Microsoft 365 capabilities to reduce spend on additional licenses and streamline processes.  

We’ve been developing services through which the actions above can be baselined to allow providers or Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to make productivity and efficiency gains.  

If you would like to learn more or get involved in this work, please get in touch at info@ethicalhealthcare.org.uk.