Thoughts on optimism

Why I am an optimist about the future of the NHS. Money doesn't matter. 1.5 million amazing people and decades of investment make for unlimited potential.

Somehow politicians have arrived at the view that another reorganisation of the NHS is the way forward. Before any strategic plan has been formed. It seems wrapped up in the negative mindset of excessive burdens, unmanageable waiting lists and shortages of money, people and medicines.

I am lucky to be running a company that deals with the NHS every day. All that doom and pessimism is totally disconnected from the reality.

So I am a massive optimist about the NHS. Despite the news headlines, the financial pressures and the challenges I hear about from users every day.

Reasons to be cheerful

Here's why:

The NHS is a fantastic platform for achieving great things. Providing a perfect and near unlimited opportunity for innovation.

Despite all the pressures, there has been massive investment in IT and innovation over decades. This creates enormous potential.

There are 1.5 million of our most talented people from the UK and all around the world working and caring in our NHS every hour of every single day. Perhaps the same number again, equally capable and committed, in the wider health and care ecosystem.

No other organisation has access to such a vast pool of ideas, ingenuity and sheer dedicated capacity to get shit done. Not here, not anywhere.

Money doesn’t matter

You may well be thinking, that's great but where will the money come from?

"The money?' I said. 'But surely, Sir John, you don't build houses with money? Do you mean that there won't be enough bricks and mortar and steel and cement?"

From a broadcast by John Maynard Keynes in April 1942. One of the most remarkable and accessible works of genius I have ever discovered.

He goes on to say:

"Anything we can actually do we can afford. Once done, it is there. Nothing can take it from us. We are immeasurably richer than our predecessors."

The capacity to actually do stuff exists. The NHS has the people and they have made the investments.

True, there is increasing demand and there is a genuine demographic challenge. That means we cannot easily grow the number of people to meet that demand.

We must recognise those constraints and learn to do more with the astounding resources that are available to the NHS. That means building on what we have. Not running around declaring emergencies and searching for miracle solutions.

Unlocking those constraints means technology. Digital technology, life sciences, AI, medical devices and more. A vast, ever growing pool of proven technologies that leverage people’s time to deliver more and better care.

Frankly, I don't give a fig about NHS England or the DHS. £500 million is barely enough to run the NHS for a single day.

Remember though, money doesn’t matter. People run the NHS. If 9,000 people lose their current jobs, let's go and grab as many of those talented individuals as we can and get them working where it counts.

Another pitch for Triscribe

I genuinely think Triscribe can help meet the day to day challenges NHS staff face. We are able to harness proven, modern technology to solve the real problems your teams face every day.

The data is already there. Captured by a largely invisible investment of millions of hours spent by NHS staff inputting and verifying information into existing systems.

We have built solutions that already work. And we have four projects planned for more solutions that are urgently needed.

Yes we need more customers, not least to get a modest amount of the stuff that doesn't matter - money. I promise the initial cost is small and using Triscribe will pay you back from the outset.

If you are need some optimism right now and are interested in Triscribe, I would love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading.