07.05.2025
Northern Care Alliance – eDMS Discovery and Strategic Integration Readiness
Establishing a roadmap for eDMS consolidation and future EPR alignment.
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust commissioned Keystream to undertake a discovery phase to assess its fragmented Electronic Document Management Systems. Formed through multiple mergers, the Trust faced high costs, integration issues, and compliance risks. Keystream delivered a comprehensive review highlighting opportunities to consolidate systems, improve workflows, reduce outsourced scanning costs, and prepare for future EPR integration.
Latest insights
Pulling the Cord on Tech’s Culture of Silence
In aviation, every crash leads to an investigation. In tech, most failures disappear into silence. Why? After attending several events recently, one theme stood out: transparency, or the lack of it. Having supported digital and transformation leaders for over a decade, I’m struck by how often the same issues resurface. Lessons aren’t learned, and problems…
Tuition Fees, Talent, and Quality: The Real Challenge for UK Universities
The government’s recent announcement allowing universities in England to raise tuition fees in line with inflation has made headlines across the sector. While this move may provide welcome financial relief, the bigger challenge for universities isn’t tuition – it’s people. Universities simply cannot meet quality standards without the right teams in place. IT, digital, and…
Beyond the Tools – Making Digital Transformation Work for the NHS
I’ve seen the NHS’s digital transformation from all angles….as a patient, working on the frontline and in the programme room. I’ve felt the frustration of handwritten notes, siloed systems, and digital tools that promised productivity but rarely delivered. But I’ve also seen the difference when technology truly works, when it empowers rather than overwhelms, when it simplifies rather than complicates, and when it supports…
The Traitors Within: Tackling Hidden Inefficiencies in NHS Waiting List Management
As The Traitors returns to our screens tonight (highly recommend if you haven’t seen it), it’s a good reminder that not every challenge is visible at first glance – especially in healthcare. Just like in the show, NHS teams are working together towards a shared goal, but sometimes unseen forces quietly work against progress. In…
From Perfectly Choreographed Groceries to Well-Orchestrated Public Services: What We Learned from a Leading UK Supermarket
As part of our work exploring how operational design principles translate across sectors, we recently visited one of the UK’s leading supermarket micro-fulfilment centres (MFC). We were curious to see how one of the country’s most complex logistics operations balances automation, efficiency and human input to meet high-volume demand. On the surface, it seems far…
NHS Group Structures: Navigating the Shift
Across the NHS, a clear pattern is emerging: the rise of the group structure. Some trusts were early adopters, but we’re now seeing more organisations coming together, whether by uniting corporate functions or pursuing a full merger. This shift is being driven by real pressures: financial constraints, workforce shortages, duplicated services, and the ongoing drive…
AI, Communities and a Fit-for-Future Public Sector
Navigating a New Vision for Health and Local Services The government’s 10-Year Plan for the NHS lays out a bold vision of a “fit for the future” health service, with three major shifts: care closer to home, digital-first services, and a focus on prevention. It is a plan to reimagine how care is delivered by…
How Higher Education’s Challenges Are Reshaping Tech and Digital Teams
The UK higher education sector is at a crossroads. Once known for stability and long-term thinking, universities are now navigating uncertainty on every front, from squeezed budgets and changing student demographics to rising expectations for digital-first services. As someone who has spent the past six years recruiting into this space, I have seen how these…
The NHS 10-Year Plan: Big Promises, Bigger Questions
The government’s 10-Year Plan for the NHS sets out a comprehensive vision for change. From personal health budgets and integrated health organisations to neighbourhood care centres and AI-enabled hospitals, the direction of travel is clear. On paper, it looks like a plan that could reshape how care is delivered, how services are led, and how…
Disclaimer: AI Helped Me Write This Blog
Or did it. Now that anyone with a prompt window can generate professional-sounding text, AI is turning our writing into the same bland, beige template. And that’s becoming a real problem when you’re trying to get people to actually pay attention and take action. Everything Sounds the Same Now Every digital strategy, LinkedIn…