In conversation with… Martin Bell, Healthcare, IT and Business Consultant, and former NHS CIO
In his interview, Martin Bell highlights the woeful lack of investment being made in technology and digitisation within NHS trusts. He also discusses why we must reform our way of thinking about the NHS as an "amorphous blob" – instead realising that there are different sectors, with different requirements.
Martin was interviewed in October 2021 - this piece was originally published as subscriber-exclusive content.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what your role entails
"I run my own consultancy - The Martin Bell Partnership - where I work with a range of clients from large corporate healthcare vendors through to private equity firms and digital health startups.
“I also do some work with NHS providers, private providers, hospices, and the like. Before branching out and starting my own consultancy I was a CIO of an NHS Trust, as well as Deputy Managing Director for one of the UK’s largest clinical systems providers."
How has your background as a CIO impacted the work you do now?
"It’s been hugely helpful in a number of ways. To state the obvious, it gave me a real understanding of the intricacies and the complications of how the NHS works.
"I think the other thing that was particularly good was that I was actually on the board of the trust I worked at. There are far more Board CIOs these days, which is great. It gives you a very broad contextual basis on how healthtech and digital innovation could play more of a supporting role in the everyday workings of a hospital.
“But in healthcare if you don't do it right, people will die. You can't close the doors. You can’t restrict access to A&E or to surgeries. The problem doesn't go away, if anything, it is exacerbated.”
"You see lots of stuff on social media along the lines of “the NHS can learn from this, the NHS can learn from that, if we were the airline industry, this wouldn't happen”. Of course, there's always cross learning between industries, but if there are no pilots for a plane then the plane simply doesn't fly. But in healthcare if you don't do it right, people will die. You can't close the doors. You can’t restrict access to A&E or to surgeries. The problem doesn't go away, if anything, it is exacerbated - and I saw that firsthand on the board."
How do you support digitisation of healthcare in England?
"The majority of my work is with healthtech companies who are providing software solutions of one sort or another into the NHS. Now, the NHS at its core is the largest health care market and provider in the United Kingdom, and the sort of things that I assist companies with depends on the stage they're at. So, if you come to me at an early stage of company development, I might advise on who might buy your products, and help you to develop business cases. I might ask, is there a competitive landscape out there and does your company know what they're doing?
"I also help clients when they have to write a report (e.g. an investment case, market report), put together a spreadsheet (e.g. sales pipeline, pricing strategy, etc), put together a business case for example. I also advise on funding clients. Essentially, I wade into the weeds with them so that they have all that they need to deliver their strategy, their vision, their objectives. You need that balance – of strategy and detail – and I quite enjoy that.
“The NHS at its core is the largest health care market and provider in the United Kingdom, and the sort of things that I assist companies with depends on the stage they're at.”
"I also help with navigating the NHS. Contrary to popular belief, the NHS is not one great large amorphous blob, it's a series of individual fiefdoms, and different sectors, whether it's acute, community, mental health, or primary care. All of those different sectors have slightly different requirements, different approaches, different types, different big players in terms of other vendors, and also in terms of some of the NHS characters that are in those sectors."
How has your consultancy’s role changed since the COVID-19 pandemic started?
"I don't think the role has changed much. But I suppose the biggest one for me personally was that for 18 months I basically went nowhere. And in fact, during the pandemic period, I never actually physically left the county of North Yorkshire.
"Something that impacted me was that there were no events. This might be kind of a controversial point, but I'm not a fan of the majority of online events. I think they're great for accessing content, but not for networking - which is a big thing for me.
"Another thing from the client side, which is an absolute staple, is that the physical meetings have died. What I find interesting is that there's been a shift from the telephone to video as well. I quite enjoy an old-fashioned telephone call. When I’m on the phone, it’s nice to get up and walk around and talk, get a bit of exercise. I try and avoid days where I have back-to-back video calls - but they’re more common these days!"
If the NHS could do one thing tomorrow to make digital a reality, what do you think it should be?
“We talked about the CIO role earlier - I think they’re really important.
”The general recommendation is you should spend between 3-5% of your annual turnover on technology. In healthcare that recommendation is repeated. The average is about 2%. There are actually some trusts where that number is less than 1%. That is a tiny amount of money to be spending. It’s really quite impossible to deliver transformational change at pace with this amount of money.
“The general recommendation is you should spend between 3-5% of your annual turnover on technology. In healthcare that recommendation is repeated. The average is about 2%.”
"If we were in the US, Canada, the Nordics, we'd be looking at 8%. Even if you double the 2%, even if you triple the 2%, that would be a massive increase in money for CIOs to deliver digital services and digital transformation.
"Never being one to stick to exact rules, the second thing I would do after providing the right level of sustained funding, is to scale up and penetrate, at pace, the technology that exists and works now – everywhere. Less “shiny new thing”, more “let’s get everywhere good, and ensure solid foundations. Get the fundamentals right."
Enjoyed this interview? Sign up to our mailing list to get insights, interviews, opinions, and news direct to your inbox.
