Unlocking time to care: NHS One Devon’s people services digital transformation
Managing the people processes for over 38,000 employees is not an easy task. From hundreds of thousands of leave requests to learning and development or payroll queries, how do you effectively manage this scale of demand? Rely on paper and manual processes, or digitise the entire end to end process?
This was the challenge One Devon faced, before they embarked upon scaling the largest ever People Digital Transformation Programme in the NHS - and they’re already seeing the rewards. With the recent publication of the ‘10 Year Health Plan for England’ comes a drive in the NHS to leverage “technology [which] will liberate staff from admin”. Leaders at One Devon were determined to pave the way as one of the national vanguards and first of 42 Integrated Care Systems (ICS) to roll out a new digital people service, creating the foundations for automation, better data and future AI-enabled support.
Pioneering a huge transformation project alongside running services for 615,000 people across 36 sites is no easy feat. Despite this, the One Devon team, with the support of Deloitte, are driving efficiency, enhancing the employee experience, and unlocking crucial data insights through a modern digital backbone - ultimately releasing time for frontline workers to deliver vital healthcare services.
“We have brought together a variety of specialists to co-design the right digital solution alongside the right technology partners to ensure data, AI and automation can provide enhanced support to nearly 40,000 employees, improving their working lives and returning time to care for patients.”
Amber Kennard, Lead Engagement Partner, Deloitte
Delivering a bold transformation
Faced with a change programme of this size, they looked to Deloitte to help them deliver a transformational HR solution. We applied our deep understanding of the complexity of the NHS landscape and our expertise in technology implementation and change management, to implement an AI enhanced digital backbone.
This groundbreaking project, the first of its kind in the NHS, has brought together five distinct organisations and over 38,000 staff onto a single, employee front-door for accessing digital people services. Together, we’ve implemented a suite of digital technologies, including an Employee Virtual Assistant (EVA), powered by ServiceNow, and an NHS people data integration engine and data hub. Creating a secure, scalable foundation for automation and future AI-enabled experiences, and empowering One Devon to think differently and make bold cross-organisation changes.
Going all in
Co-design and collaboration were at the heart of our approach - combining Deloitte's health sector and technology implementation expertise with the power of ServiceNow’s platforms. Together we co-created and launched a suite of digital technologies, underpinned by:
- Strategic thinking to deliver at scale: We showcased the art of the possible and laid the foundations for scaling digital people services into a national change programme.
- Navigating complexity to deliver change: We worked closely with One Devon to secure buy-in from all five NHS organisations in the region. This involved navigating complex funding mechanisms and demonstrating a clear return on investment.
- Harnessing the power of our alliance partners: We collaborated with ServiceNow to implement a cutting-edge digital HR solution. We implemented a data integration platform, cleaning and preparing data from the existing system for seamless integration with ServiceNow.
- Deep expertise for a tailored response: We brought together specialists from across Deloitte, with expertise in healthcare, technology implementation, data, cyber, human capital and change management.
- Bespoke best practice: HR process design was a major component of the project. We drew on our network and ecosystem to leverage best practice from implementations we have delivered for other sectors. Developing processes to align with the new systems and ensure effective integration across the five organisations.
“Devon People teams and Deloitte worked very closely to deliver a first of its kind cross system People services digital front door, providing a proper digital first access to people for their employment and pay queries. Deloitte worked highly collaboratively and effectively to understand the nuances of the NHS and to navigate organisational and staff group differences - driving alignment, digitalisation and consistency to enable joined up solutions.”
Hannah Foster, One Devon People Digital Sponsor, NHS
A lasting impact
Together, we’ve delivered a single, user-friendly digital portal for all 38,000 staff across five NHS organisations - bringing them together on the One Devon People Digital Transformation Programme. This has streamlined processes, empowered employees with self-service tools, and integrated with their existing electronic staff record system, ultimately leading to a projected £20 million net benefit over the next seven years. Importantly, it has also created the platform for more intelligent, insight-led and AI-enabled employee services, freeing clinicians up to focus on the priority - patient care.
Through the data integration platform, we’ve revealed a more accurate picture of the workforce. Over 40,000 records have been ingested and cleansed so far, and in doing so numerous duplicate records identified, providing the trusted data foundation needed.
The user-friendly EVA portal provides one point of entry to people services at any time, from anywhere. While the EVA people services workspace allows for consistent and aligned foundation processes and shared ways of working. This has streamlined processes, freeing up HR staff time and improving overall efficiency - with 90% of HR using the system and 1,250 people services cases raised in the first week. While searchable policies and case management have enabled approximately 130 mailboxes scheduled to be turned off.
Future fit, never standing still
The implementation of ServiceNow has established a robust, AI-ready digital backbone for One Devon's HR function, positioning them for future technological advancements - including the addition of a manager portal, AI chatbot, and agentic workflows. The project is already delivering substantial cost savings across areas such as contract consolidation and reduced time to hire, which can be reinvested in frontline healthcare services.
Ultimately, by increasing efficiency and enhancing the employee experience, we’re returning time to care for clinical staff. Setting One Devon up for success in a transformed healthcare system whilst creating the gold standard for rolling out the People Digital Transformation Programme across the NHS.
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1. NHS England » Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England
“Deloitte’s work enabled our people teams to start working differently and embracing digitalisation and automation from a manual starting point. Additionally on top of the key objective (joining up of data sources and system access) the programme has delivered the wider term benefit of driving end to end connectivity of systems beyond this project.”
Hannah Foster, One Devon People Digital Sponsor, NHS
