Future Ready.
Consulting.

As ever-smarter technology continues to transform modern healthcare, the benefits of digital-first support systems become clearer by the day. But even the most sophisticated technological upgrade is only ever that: a support system.

The modern healthcare environment still depends on something older than the oldest technology, yet still vastly more complex than the latest cutting-edge invention: the humans who work there, and the humans they serve.

Emotional Intelligence will forever be more important than Artificial Intelligence.

Technology in context, people in charge

While Block’s consultants will take every opportunity to upgrade operational efficiency, optimise costs, maximise investment and future-proof the operation, we’re always conscious that systems support people, not the other way around.

And since Block Consulting deals in human experience rather than spreadsheets or algorithms, it’s actual humans we send in. Our people are as empathetic to culture-wide considerations as they are fluent in tech, and committed above all to delivering a set of client outcomes that focus on enhancing patient care.

And that’s why our consulting engagements always start by engaging with senior Trust management and clinical leadership to understand and align key outcomes across Trust strategy, patient empowerment, staff enablement, and improved clinical outcomes. After this, depending on which level of engagement you need, we take the following steps:

HIMSS INFRAM Assessment

As a certified partner in the UK, our HIMSS certified team works with you from both a business outcome and technical perspective to deliver a comprehensive assessment of your current infrastructure capability.

Technology Roadmap

Here we take undertake deep-dive technology workshops and assessments, identify immediate risks and issues and develop a longer-term technology roadmap.

Costed Programme Plan Delivery

Alignment of commercial and cost considerations to provide a rounded and financially balanced view of technology transformation.

VIEW THE INFRAM OVERVIEW

In tune with
what we find

Our consulting methodology is both sensitive and pragmatic, assessing what we find and helping it evolve at a pace that suits. Some Trusts or Practices are further down the road; all have different financial, infrastructural, scaling or training challenges. We apply the appropriate approach to each.

Within the wider framework that applies throughout UK healthcare, every Block Consultancy programme brings an open mind to what will work in a particular setting. What’s right in one place may struggle for adoption elsewhere. The order of implementation may have to change in accord with local factors, and different budgets demand different approaches.

Our ‘triage’ approach breaks down into three basic models:

High Level

The ’upstream’ version, more strategic than hands-on. We engage with senior management to assess where technology can enhance outcomes, deliver a full INFRAM assessment of current capacity and create a roadmap to the future.

Mid Level

The next stage is to dive into the flow of how things work. We identify specific areas to address, advise on urgent needs, signpost solutions and give an informed view on required tech, likely budgets and timeframes. In short, a more detailed roadmap.

Full

The roadmap begins to evolve into the journey. Building on the first two stages, Block’s fully comprehensive consultancy service now goes deeper, assessing all areas of the operation and advising in detail on options, from infrastructure and procurement to staff onboarding.

What Good
Looks Like

We’re all familiar with NHSX guidance on the future of UK healthcare, but with such a far-reaching framework it’s easy to lose focus on its simple driving principles. In short, these boil down to culture-wide digital integration, in service of a resolute focus on patient outcomes.

The first means that, far from being ‘an IT issue’, each organisation’s digital evolution needs to align with overall strategy, with enthusiastic buy-in at all levels.

The second means that for a transformation strategy to achieve its potential, it needs a constant focus on better serving the citizens it exists to assist.

Block Consultancy aligns precisely with these principles. We’ve advised NHS Trusts, GP Practices and independent organisations across the country, from the largest to the most localised.

And because we’ve helped bring it to life so many times, we know better than most what good really looks like.

Open to the universe
of possibilities

No one is more familiar with the relevant specifics than those who live it, day to day. But that very proximity to the issues can easily become a false friend.

Equally critical is the perspective from beyond those familiar confines. What’s working where, and why? What conceptual leaps enabled this or that extraordinary outcome in similar organisations – and above all, where does our thinking fit within the context of the nationwide mission of the NHS?

That’s where Block’s Consultancy service steps in. It’s our role to keep abreast of the digital developments that will drive the next few decade’s outcomes. All year, every year, we work with health and care providers across the home nations to devise and deliver the tech-led transformation that NHS leadership rightly sees as central to staying ahead – and it’s this unique mix of helicopter view and hands-on experience that distinguishes us.

No matter the level of engagement, to every client project we bring a trove of hands-on experience and commitment to outcomes that’s both deeper and wider than you’ll find elsewhere. This commitment forms the foundations of the Block Promise, and that will never change.

And, given how all healthcare decisions affect real lives, advice from people you can truly trust has never been more critical. Talk to Block.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PROMISE

2024
is the target date for NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts to reach a “core level of digitisation”