3 trusts
Sectra PACS deployment, Kent
About 300 modalities, 120 workstations and 5,000 trained users across three NHS trusts.
Portfolio, programme and project management
Health IT that lands, not just goes live.
I'm Sean Key. For 27 years I've turned NHS digital strategy into benefits people can measure, working at portfolio, programme and project level. I can lead the work, set up and run your PMO, or join your team in a supporting role.
27 yearsDelivering digital change, mostly in the NHS
MSP & PRINCE2Practitioner in both; PRINCE2 since 2002
Scrum MasterCertified, for agile and hybrid delivery
Outside IR35Contract and interim roles
How I work
From strategy to delivered benefit
I work at whichever level the organisation needs, as the lead or as part of an existing team.
Strategy
Turning a digital strategy or ICB plan into a set of changes that can be funded, sequenced and measured.
Portfolio management
Choosing and balancing the programmes and projects that deliver the strategy, and keeping that mix under review as priorities and funding change.
Programme management
Running related projects towards one set of outcomes, with a benefits map, governance boards can follow and a plan suppliers are held to.
Project management
Delivering a defined change, such as a system replacement or a service move, on time and with a support model ready on day one.
When you need a specific answer
Recovery, assurance and strategy challenge
Programme and project recovery
For programmes that have slipped against a fixed deadline, or gone live without the benefits they promised.
Programme recovery →Red team and independent assurance reviews
An outside challenge of the business case, plan or go-live readiness before you commit.
Red team reviews →Digital strategy challenge
Testing an ICB or trust digital strategy for funding, capacity and sequencing, then turning it into a portfolio.
Strategy challenge →Selected delivery
Programmes I've delivered
73 sites
LIMS deployment, Nuffield Health
Delivery manager for the deployment stage of a laboratory system across the hospital network.
135 practices
Video consultation rollout, Kent
Rapid AccuRx rollout across GP practices during COVID-19, alongside 111-to-UTC appointment booking.
80%+
Shared GP records, Brighton and Hove
A 24-week programme to share GP records across urgent care, beating its Summary Care Record coverage target.
Specialist areas
Where my NHS experience runs deepest
Clinical system replacement
PACS and RIS, LIMS and EPR programmes: supplier selection, data migration, testing, cutover and hypercare.
Shared care records and interoperability
GP Connect, FHIR, HL7 and Spine integration that gives neighbourhood and urgent care teams the record they need.
Benefits realisation
Measurable productivity gains that an ICB board can see and defend, set up before go-live and evidenced after it.
How an engagement runs
From discovery to business as usual
Mobilise
Understand the brief, the people and the constraints. Agree scope, governance and what "done" means.
Plan
An integrated plan with dependencies, a live RAID log, a clinical safety plan and a budget everyone has seen.
Build and test
Suppliers, configuration and data migration managed against the plan, with DPIA and DCB0160 work running alongside.
Cutover
A rehearsed runbook, clear go/no-go criteria and a support model ready before the switch.
Benefits
Hypercare, handover to business as usual, and evidence that the change did what the business case said.
Blog
Latest posts on programme delivery
Planning a system cutover weekend: what goes in the runbook
A go-live weekend is won or lost in the six weeks before it. Here is how I structure the runbook, the rehearsals and the go/no-go decision.
RAID logs that people actually read
Most RAID logs are written for an audit that never comes. A few simple habits turn them into the most useful document on the programme.
Free downloads
Free programme templates
RAID logs, cutover runbooks, highlight reports and mobilisation packs, with client detail removed.
Reading and training
Recommended books and courses
The programme and project management books and qualifications I recommend to people starting out or stepping up.
Scoping or staffing a digital programme?
Contract and interim roles, leading or supporting, outside IR35. Based in Brighton and Hove; hybrid or on site.