CASE STUDY

Introduction:

In 2017, NHS Digital launched an initiative to support seamless patient care across healthcare facilities with the National Record Locator Service (NRLS). The NRLS project aimed to create a system enabling healthcare professionals to securely access patient records across various systems. NHS Digital faced challenges with traditional waterfall practices that slowed development, and they sought to adopt agile practices to enable a faster, more iterative approach to delivering the NRLS. We Do IT Agile partnered with NHS Digital to implement agile methods that would reduce cycle times, improve collaboration, and enhance responsiveness.

Client background:

NHS Digital serves as the technology partner to the health and social care system in England, responsible for providing data and digital services to improve patient care. Due to rigid, long-cycle processes, NHS Digital’s software development often struggled to keep pace with evolving needs. The NRLS project aimed to unify patient data access, requiring a shift to agile methods that would allow the organisation to respond to changing requirements effectively and deliver solutions more efficiently.

Objectives:

The main objectives for the NRLS project included:

• Reducing sprint cycle duration: Shift from lengthy development cycles to a two-week sprint cadence for faster feedback and delivery.
• Improving cross-functional collaboration: Establish cohesive workflows across technical, UI/UX, and communication teams to break down silos.

Driving continuous improvement: Build an agile environment that supports NHS Digital’s goals for productivity, collaboration, and adaptability

Solution: Scrum framework and agile coaching

Transitioning to bi-weekly sprint cycles
To enable faster delivery and better adaptability, our team introduced two-week sprints, replacing NHS Digital’s previous extended cycles. This shift allowed for more frequent feedback loops and a greater focus on prioritising and delivering value incrementally, which was essential for keeping up with the fast-paced needs of healthcare.

Structured Scrum training and hands-on workshops
We conducted customised training sessions focused on Scrum principles, values, and events, such as sprint planning, the Daily Scrum, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. These sessions addressed initial resistance, equipping teams with practical skills and helping them understand the tangible benefits of agility in their workflows.

Encouraging continuous improvement through retrospectives
Regular retrospectives became a core component of the NRLS project, encouraging teams to openly discuss bottlenecks, share insights, and collaboratively identify solutions. This continuous improvement approach helped NHS Digital teams make meaningful adjustments that streamlined their workflows and improved delivery speed and quality.

Results and impact:

1. Reduction in sprint cycles from 3 months to 2 weeks

• Impact: By adopting two-week sprints, the NRLS team was able to deliver features more frequently and gather ongoing feedback, keeping pace with healthcare requirements and adapting more effectively to stakeholder needs.

2. 30% faster approval processes

• Impact: Scrum events, such as sprint reviews and feedback loops, streamlined the approval process for new features, enabling NHS Digital to act on stakeholder input more promptly and reducing administrative delays.

3. 35% increase in user satisfaction among healthcare professionals

• Impact: The agile transformation led to a more user-focused development approach, incorporating regular UX feedback that improved the usability of the NRLS system. Healthcare professionals reported a 35% improvement in satisfaction, as NRLS became more intuitive and responsive to their needs.

4. Enhanced cross-functional collaboration across departments

• Impact: Improved alignment among technical, UI/UX, and leadership teams reduced project delays by up to 70%, supporting NHS Digital in meeting milestones on time while fostering a more cohesive, transparent workflow.

5. Foundation for scalable agile practices within NHS Digital

Impact: The success of the NRLS agile transformation encouraged NHS Digital to adopt agile practices in other areas, creating a cultural shift towards continuous improvement and flexibility to address future digital challenges.

Conclusion:

The agile transformation within NHS Digital’s NRLS project has significantly improved the organisation’s ability to deliver timely, valuable solutions that enhance patient care. We Do IT Agile helped NHS Digital transition from a rigid, waterfall approach to a responsive agile framework, enabling faster delivery, better collaboration, and a greater focus on user needs. This shift has prepared NHS Digital to adapt effectively in a dynamic healthcare landscape, ensuring essential digital solutions reach healthcare professionals efficiently.