The conversations behind the analysis
Our Futureproofing the NHS roundtable series brought together leaders from across the NHS, government, policy and industry to explore the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of health and care.
Across four discussions, participants examined digital transformation, data and interoperability, the future of shared services, and the operational challenges facing NHS organisations. The insights gathered helped inform our wider analysis and recommendations on the operational foundations needed to support innovation, productivity and long-term NHS reform.
“Organisational collaborations are key.
Sharing services, functions and processes does not mean
a loss of local identity or local control;
it creates the time and the headroom to prioritise resources
to where they can make the biggest difference to patient care.”
Chief Executive, Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber
The NHS of tomorrow: Embedding shared services for lasting transformation
The 10 Year Health Plan commits to making the NHS “the world’s most collaborative public healthcare provider.”
But how do we turn collaboration from aspiration into reality? The Health Foundation’s NHS Productivity Commission set out a framework identifying workforce, capital, technology and transformation as the four drivers of productivity growth. Shared services sit at the intersection of all four and embedding them calls for genuine co-creation and collaboration.
When organisations work together on corporate services (including finance, procurement, payroll, and workforce systems), they achieve gains that none could deliver alone. However, these successes remain unevenly spread. In this webinar – the fourth and final in the Futureproofing the NHS series – our panel explore what it takes to embed shared services for lasting impact over the next decade and beyond.
Host: Raine Pell, Marketing Director, NHS Shared Business Services (Host)
Guests
- Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive, Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber
- Stephen Sutcliffe, Director of Finance & Accounting, NHS Shared Business Services
- Laura Devine, Commercial Senior Delivery Lead, NHS Shared Business Services
“If we want people to be energised, to be encouraged and innovative, then you’ve got to give them a working environment that enables them to do that.”
David Furness, Managing Director, The Shelford Group
Roundtable discussion held 23 January 2026
Data as infrastructure: The foundation for NHS transformation
The government’s 10‑Year Health Plan pledges £600 million to a Health Data Research Service and positions the NHS as “the most AI‑enabled health system in the world.” Yet while clinical data dominates headlines, operational data already flows through the NHS at scale, revealing hidden savings, predicting workforce pressures, and exposing inefficiencies that clinical datasets often miss.
This webinar explored how operational intelligence can unlock better care, stronger retention, and greater efficiency and asked what data infrastructure, governance, and automation the NHS truly needs to deliver on its digital promises.
Host: Raine Pell, Marketing Director, NHS Shared Business Services
Guests:
- Cassie Smith, Director of Legal, Trust and Ethics, Health Data Research UK
- Jake Arnold-Forster, Co-founder and CEO, Carradale Futures
- Robert Walker, Head of Health & Social Care, techUK
“If you want to transform things, you first have to make them consistent. Once they’re consistent and transparent, you can improve them.”
Jake Arnold-Forster, Co-founder and Chief Executive, Carradale Futures
Roundtable discussion held 28 November 2025
Digital Under Pressure: Keeping transformation on track amid NHS reform
Analogue to digital is one of the government’s three big NHS shifts. This was echoed by the NHS chair, Dr Penny Dash, in her recent call for “technology, technology, technology”. But how do you deliver digital under pressure? In a turbulent landscape, how do you ensure technology becomes a true enabler, and not another distraction?
This interactive event explored what works – and what doesn’t – when it comes to digital transformation.
Host: Raine Pell, Marketing Director, NHS Shared Business Services
Guests:
- Heather Barton-Jones, Area Vice President of the Strategic Transformation Office, UiPath
- Pritesh Mistry, Fellow, Digital Technologies, The King’s Fund
- Fiz Yazdi, Managing Director, Sopra Steria Next
“People really value efficiency, but they don’t get out of bed in the morning for it alone, and it’s the tender moments of care that they remember. That’s what transformation should aim for.”
Fiz Yazdi, Managing Director, Sopra Steria Next
Roundtable discussion held 19 September 2025
Surviving the squeeze: Delivering excellence in corporate services with diminishing resources
With the NHS facing substantial reductions in administrative capacity, maintaining high-performing corporate functions is increasingly challenging.
This interactive, collaborative roundtable event explored innovative approaches that can help meet cost-saving targets whilst preserving quality and operational effectiveness.
Host: Erika Bannerman, Managing Director, NHS Shared Business Services
Guests:
- Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive, NHS Employers
- David Furness, Managing Director, the Shelford Group
- Mark Jennings, Non-executive director at Alder Hey Children’s NHS FT, Chief Solutions and Services Officer, Strasys
- Alice Donovan-Hart, Director of Consulting, NHS Shared Business Services
“If we want people to be energised, to be encouraged and innovative, then you’ve got to give them a working environment that enables them to do that.”
David Furness, Managing Director, The Shelford Group
Roundtable discussion held 18 July 2025.
Explore the findings
The discussions featured in this roundtable series informed our wider Futureproofing the NHS analysis, bringing together expert insight, evidence and practical recommendations for strengthening the operational foundations that support health and care reform.
Download the reports to explore the key findings and recommendations in more detail, and discover how shared services, digital transformation, data and collaboration can help support innovation, productivity and long-term NHS reform
Key insights from the roundtable discussions
Through a series of discussions with leaders from across the NHS, government, policy and industry, several consistent themes emerged. Together, they highlight the operational challenges and opportunities that will shape the NHS’s ability to deliver its long-term ambitions.
Operational foundations matter
Delivering the NHS’s ambitions will depend on strong operational foundations across finance, procurement, payroll, workforce and digital services, not clinical transformation alone.
Shared services create capacity
Sharing common operational functions can reduce duplication, improve consistency and free leaders to focus on patient care and local priorities.
Technology must solve real problems
Digital investment delivers the greatest value when organisations first understand the problem, redesign processes and engage staff in the change.
Better data enables better decisions
Workforce, finance and procurement data can provide earlier insights into emerging pressures, helping organisations act before problems affect patient care.
Collaboration drives productivity
Participants highlighted the importance of shared platforms, common standards and collaborative governance to support system-wide improvement.
Proven approaches already exist
Examples from across the NHS demonstrate that automation, shared services and data-driven decision-making can improve productivity and release valuable capacity for frontline care.
Our recommendations for futureproofing the NHS
Our roundtable discussions highlighted both the challenges facing the NHS and the opportunities to address them.
Drawing on these conversations, expert insight, alongside independent research and operational experience, we identified a series of practical recommendations to help create the operational foundations needed to support innovation, productivity and long-term reform across the NHS.
Strategic operational infrastructure
Recognise corporate services as critical enablers of NHS performance and invest in them as strategic assets.
Long-term investment
Support operational transformation with sustained funding, implementation support and organisational capacity.
Process before technology
Understand challenges, redesign processes and engage staff before introducing new technology.
Scale proven solutions
Extend successful shared service models and avoid duplicating solutions across organisations.
Data-driven decision making
Use workforce, finance and procurement data to identify pressures earlier and support better planning.
Collaboration by design
Create governance and delivery models that make collaboration simpler and more effective across the NHS.
“People really value efficiency,
but they don’t get out of bed in the morning for it alone,
and it’s the tender moments of care that they remember.
That’s what transformation should aim for.”
Fiz Yazdi, Managing Director, Sopra Steria Next
Explore the Futureproofing the NHS programme
Discover the research, expert insights and recommendations that emerged from our roundtable series. Explore the full analysis, thought leadership articles and resources examining the operational foundations needed to support innovation, productivity and long-term NHS reform.
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