25.03.2025
Reflections from Rewired 2025
If there’s one message that echoed across Rewired 2025, it’s this: before digital transformation can succeed, the basics need to be right.
That might sound simple, but in a climate of shifting structures, tighter budgets, and growing demand, it’s anything but. Across panels, keynotes, and informal conversations, it was clear the digital health community is ready to meet these challenges, but only if we take a collective, considered approach.
Our Managing Directors of Consulting and Recruitment Krishna Gandham and James Leslie-Smith attended the event last week and were genuinely inspired by the conversations happening on the ground. The atmosphere felt purposeful and pragmatic, with a strong focus on working together to deliver meaningful change.
Here are a few reflections from the day:
Back to basics
Digital transformation starts with the fundamentals. That means making sure the right processes, people and planning are in place before new systems are introduced. Without a clear foundation, technology can often create more complexity than it solves.
Collaboration across Trusts
There’s growing momentum around provider collaboratives and cross-Trust delivery. Sessions led by speakers such as Will Monahan and Hayley Grafton highlighted the potential for more efficient, joined-up approaches as well as reinforcing the need for structure, shared priorities and accountability to make it work.
Doing more with less
With financial and workforce pressures continuing, the focus for many organisations has shifted to delivering smarter, not just faster. That includes stepping back to look at the bigger picture, prioritising the right programmes of work, and building capacity in the right places.
Open, constructive dialogue
One of the most valuable parts of the event was seeing people from across the sector openly share ideas, challenges and ways of working. That level of openness will be essential in delivering sustainable progress.
If these themes resonate with what you’re working on, and you’d like to continue the conversation, Keystream can support with interim talent and delivery across digital programmes.
Latest insights
Fail Fast, Serve Better: Why the Public Sector Needs a Hackathon Mindset
The electricity in the room was palpable. You could feel that surge of anticipation and excitement — the moment when your brain starts racing at 100 miles an hour and the ideas begin to spill out. We were only ten minutes into our first ever Keystream Hackathon, and already the ideas were coming so fast…
Who Owns the Roof Over Our Heads? And why it matters
Generation Alpha – the iPad-native, AI-normal, children of Millennials who think global videos, climate chat, and hand sanitiser are just… life. They’re also the least likely generation to ever own their own home. As it stands many Millennial parents will not get to see their children own their own home. That matters. As property ownership…
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…