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Articles by Matt Edgar
Fortnightnote: 28 April to 9 May 2025
Fortnightnote: 28 April to 9 May 2025 Press enter or click to view image in full size Bluebells in the garden What did I enjoy? The highlight for me was an event hosted by Leeds City Council and the Cabinet Office’s ‘Test, Learn and Grow’ team to explore a collaborative approach to neighbourhood health. It was a rare chance to catch up with colleagues from my national role and home city in the same big room, with inspiring introductions from our Lord Mayor, Healthwatch Leeds, and the LS14 Trust.
Weeknote: 14 to 18 July 2025
Seeing the publication of the Public Design Evidence Review, which explores the role and value of design in the public sector. It includes a section on public design for transformational change for which I was interviewed in 2023. I reckon the things I said back then, alongside other participants who I look up to as thought leaders, remain very relevant today. Choice quote from the executive summary: Well-designed policies and services solve problems and deliver intended outcomes.
Back to work note: 7 to 11 July 2025
Getting back to work at the London and Leeds offices in the gorgeous sunshine. I worked at Waterloo on Monday, Canary Wharf on Tuesday, back home in Leeds on Wednesday, and the Leeds government hub on Thursday and Friday. Across the week, I enjoyed catching up with colleagues who are all digesting the government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England, understanding what it means for their work, what might need to speed up, and what we might need to do less of so we can focus on the right things.
Fortnightnote: 28 April to 9 May 2025
The highlight for me was an event hosted by Leeds City Council and the Cabinet Office’s ‘Test, Learn and Grow’ team to explore a collaborative approach to neighbourhood health. It was a rare chance to catch up with colleagues from my national role and home city in the same big room, with inspiring introductions from our Lord Mayor, Healthwatch Leeds, and the LS14 Trust.
Weeknote: 31 March to 4 April 2025
The end of one financial year, and the start of another. In the grand sweep of things, this arbitrary boundary shouldn’t matter very much. Yet it still dictates the yearly rhythm of the public service worker, much as it did for the 1700s tenant famer whose rent fell due on Lady Day.
Weeknote: 24 to 28 March 2025
After the frustrations of the last month or so, the last full week of financial year 2025/26 brought many gifts: The team going live with a new approach to maternity self-referral, which stemmed from the work I initiated on the patient experience of first contact with the NHS. Early insights from a pilot to help women with worrying breast symptoms faster into a diagnostic service. A first view of data linkage between NHS 111 online and telephone usage.
Weeknote: 19 to 21 March 2025
A 3-day working week following a long weekend exploring 19th and 20th Century art and architecture in Surrey and Sussex. Highlights for me included Watts Gallery and Charleston. The churn of organisation change is already starting to make it harder to make progress on some of our work, especially where we need to collaborate with teams in other NHS England directorates.
Weeknote: 10 to 13 March 2025
A series of catch ups with colleagues in the morning, including running through my team’s contribution to the strategic planning event coming up later in the week. Mid-afternoon I popped down the road to the Queen’s Hotel to join an in-person meeting of digital leaders from the regional ambulance trusts, who were in Leeds for the annual Ambulance Leadership Forum. After that a call with colleagues about a narrative for the NHS App to feed into senior decision makers.
Weeknote: 20 to 24 January 2025
Back to weeknoting again after a hiatus. I write weeknotes for my own benefit, as a way of reflecting on how my work is going. I publish them for two reasons: The obvious: some people might be interested. Perhaps less obvious: knowing anyone might read this, even if they don’t, improves the quality of reflection. Sometimes there are things I cannot write about, or things I have to refer to obliquely.
Fortnightnote: 7 to 18 October 2024
I listened. Specifically, I listened in on a user research session with a woman who recently had a baby (burbling in the background of the Teams call :) One of our teams is looking at improving digital self-referral to maternity services, and the research was to learn about this experience first hand from people who recently used those services. Regular exposure to primary user research should be a must for people at every level in our organisation. I asked questions.
Weeknote: 30 September to 4 October 2024
Seeing the First Contact work coming together in a steering group meeting on Monday, followed by show and tell on Wednesday. My senior leadership team colleagues injected the right amount of support and challenge to the team’s work. A common theme as we develop our product-led way of working is that teams sometimes struggle to expose the options they have considered but not chosen to prioritise right now.
Weeknote: 23 to 27 September 2024
Spending time with my peers and the Product & Platforms senior leadership team, and with my own leadership team for Digital Urgent & Emergency Care (UEC). Both teams have now been fully staffed and stable for long enough that we can have rich conversations and challenge each other. That wasn’t so true even a few months ago. I caught up a few times with colleagues working on the First Contact initiative across primary, urgent and community care. They have a tricky balance to strike.
Back to weeknotes: 16 to 20 September 2024
Back to weeknotes after a hiatus brought about by — variously — a change of government, the summer holidays, and a house move. Song of the week: Yard Act — Fixer Upper. I had planned 10 days off for the move, but ended up taking a full 2 weeks. I’m glad that I did. I’m writing this on the sofa in the new place, not a cardboard box in sight, though there are half a dozen stashed behind the sofa. Out of sight and out of mind.
Weeknote: 1 to 5 July 2024
Back to weeknoting after the election period. I write these notes for my own benefit, to reflect on what went on in my working week. I share my weeknotes online because I reflect more deeply, and write more thoughtfully when anyone could be reading. A meeting of the new NHS England’s Product & Platforms leadership team, of which I’m a member, with the senior leadership of the Primary Care and Community Services group.
Weeknote: 13 to 17 May 2024
I spent Wednesday in Derby with members of my Digital Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) team, including a visit to the NHS 111 contact centre run by DHU Healthcare. We were all made very welcome, and were privileged to listen in on calls by clinicians and non-clinical health advisors. The work we do in Digital UEC has a direct impact on average call handling times, and on the appropriateness of service recommendations in 111.
Weeknote: 7 to 10 May 2024
A four-day week, the sun came out, I went to a ball, there were ups and downs, and some difficult but important conversations. I cycled into the office for the first time in ages, and was glad of a relatively meeting-free day. I had blocked out time at the start of the week because I could see a tunnel of back-to-back Teams calls all day Thursday and Friday morning. I needed to make sure that I and others were well prepared for those calls.
Weeknote: 2 to 5 April 2024
An undocumented feature of my long-term weeknote habit is that every now and then WordPress related posts reminds me of another week in the dim distant past when I was rambling about the same stuff. 5 years ago this week I was in the midst of a corporate reorganisation, the consequences of which I’m still dealing with as a manager today.
Weeknote: 25 to 28 March 2024
A four day week, but we packed a lot in, and much of it not appropriate to rehearse in my public weeknotes. The picture at the top of the post shows the chocolate bunnies I bought for my leadership team at our monthly in-person meet-up in the Leeds Hub. We spent the start of our meeting discussing some financial year-end cliff edge issues, before I ran a stakeholder mapping activity for the latter part of the session.
Weeknote: 18 to 22 March 2024
I spent time in both our London offices as well as the Leeds one which is my usual base. At all three locations, I managed impromptu chats with colleagues who I wouldn’t otherwise have caught up with. An intro meeting with Jenny who is taking up an important role, and who my team will need to work closely alongside. We have lots to do! An opportunity to talk briefly about our plans for next year at an internal delivery board, where digital has not previously been present.
Weeknote: 11 to 15 March 2024
A long but rewarding day on Wednesday. I got the early train to London to discuss shared objectives with my colleagues in the new NHS England Product and Platforms senior leadership team. Each of us has our own portfolio-specific objectives for 2024–25, but in this session we focused on the things we need to move forward together across our whole team of teams. I got back to Leeds in time to join leaving drinks with Marc, who is taking up a top job with an ambulance trust.
Weeknote: 4 to 8 March 2024
Back from a week-and-a-bit of leave and barely a moment since to pause and reflect. Times like this make #weeknotes extra valuable. Cognitive dissonance: the perception of contradictory information and the mental toll of it On one hand, digitally-informed transformation of our national health service has everything to play for: a big announcement in the budget, and continued sky high expectations for a cross-cutting piece of work I have worked hard to get off the ground and keep aloft.
Weeknote: 5 to 9 February 2024
A workshop in London to look together at the shared roadmaps for work on the NHS App and other national digital channels in the NHS. We’re getting better at this quarterly planning rhythm and it really helps to keep product teams aligned and decision-makers on board. The Transformation Directorate’s leadership forum. We’re the biggest directorate in the new NHS England, covering a vast range of different professions and services.
Weeknote: 29 January to 2 February 2024
Seeing my team members collaborating with colleagues from across the new NHS England on the launch of the Pharmacy First initiative, which means that patients can now go straight to a pharmacists for help with some common health conditions. This will make things better for patients, and free up time in general practice for the patients who need a GP consultation.
Weeknote: 22 to 26 January 2024
Five days working in the Leeds hub, including an in-person meeting of the Digital Urgent & Emergency Care (UEC) leadership team. Looking at my diary, I can see the shape of the week, with Monday and Tuesday salami-sliced into 30 minute calls, many of them one-to-ones — rewarding and exhausting in equal measure. Leadership is a conversation.
Fortnightnote: 2 to 12 January 2024
I enjoyed the quiet days at the start of the year, and while the sparkle of Christmas is lovely, I also appreciated the space and calm after the decorations came down. Along with colleagues I made a start on our plans for the next financial year.
Weeknote: 15 to 20 January 2024
An in-person meeting in Leeds with colleagues looking at how NHS 111 will evolve in the future. We ran through the vision and purpose for the service, how we work alongside primary care, commissioning and contracting, workforce, and digital enablers. I’m lookng forward to seeing the outcome of further engagement on this work, including with representatives of patients and carers.
Weeknote: 20 to 24 November 2023
The London leg of our “welcome to Product & Platforms” events. I was pleased that colleagues came into the office for this informal event, with special thanks to the people who baked cakes and cookies to share. We welcomed one new team member who is joining Digital Urgent & Emergency Care (UEC), and also discussed our work with colleagues who work on other portrfolio areas.
Weeknote: 13 to 17 November 2023
A visit to South East Coast Ambulance Service’s new Gillingham site. The 999 and 111 call centres are located above a make-ready centre where ambulances are cleaned and restocked between shifts. I joined members of our Patient and Public Voice Board for Digital Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) in learning how SECAmb’s dedicated staff support a wide range of calls, including mental health.
Weeknote: 6 to 10 November 2023
I spent Tuesday morning at Google’s King’s Cross office in London with members of the government digital leadership community. I enjoyed catching up with some former colleagues and current allies in government digital transformation, and learned about an initiative in another department that we could learn from in my own team. There were short talks about quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
Back to weeknotes after a hiatus: 23 to 27 October 2023
I’m on the sofa (terrible posture) with a cup of coffee and my laptop typing out the first set of weeknotes I’ve published since the end of August. I didn’t mean to take a break, but it’s OK that I did. As a recap, I write weeknotes for my own benefit, as a way of reflecting on how my work is going. I publish them for two reasons: The obvious: some people might be interested. Perhaps less obvious: knowing anyone might read this, even if they don’t, improves the quality of reflection.
Weeknote: 31 July to 4 August 2023
A session in which Laura and Imogen talked us through the approach to prioritisation that they’ve been working on for our portfolio. This has been quite a long time coming, because there are several tensions to hold in balance.
Weeknote: 24 to 28 July 2023
Being back in the office, refreshed after my holiday. The new NHS England Leeds office is a great place to work, and getting busier with colleagues from various product teams. On Wednesday I joined members of our Patient and Public Voice (PPV) Board for Digital Urgent and Emergency Care who were visiting the office to find out how we research with users to make sure our products are clear, usable, and accessible.
Weeknote: 26 to 30 June 2023
A chance to meet with members of the 111 online team in person as part of their monthly team day in London. I enjoyed the show and tell, including a proper live demo by one of the developers of the work he’s doing to integrate the service with NHS login. Later in the morning, I talked with the team about the various strategies and initiatives that our work is part of, and answered their questions about how we can contribute.
Weeknote: 19 to 23 June 2023
Five days enjoying the air conditioned Leeds office. I cycled in every day. On Thursday and Friday, I took longer, cooler, more scenic routes home rather than slog back up Chapeltown Road in the early evening heat. Even though most of my meetings were on Teams, I gain a lot from being in the same space as colleagues working on other things.
Weeknote: 12 to 16 June 2023
Five days in the Leeds Wellington Place office. The hot weather brought many office workers onto the boulevards outside and I enjoyed a couple of lunchtime wanders, including a bagel and a chat with Pete up on the new Monk Bridge Viaduct urban garden. My calendar seemed more relaxed this week. I had time to keep on top of my email inbox and to move a couple of things forward.
Fortnightnote: 30 May to 9 June 2023
Another two week note, as I used the time I would have set aside for last week’s note to write my reflections on a sixth year in the NHS. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had calls with people leading various high priority initiatives arising from the Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) and Primary Care recovery plans. Each of them has a clear story to tell about how the particular change they are leading will help to make things better for patients and frontline staff.
Fortnightnote: 15 to 26 May 2023
Two days at Cranfield for the last module of the Project Leadership Programme. I enjoyed David Denyer’s session on creating a resilient organisation, which seemed especially relevant to my work supporting urgent and emergency care. In another session, we were invited to look again at the “ 7 lenses of transformation”, which prompted me to spend a bit of my weekend critically assessing 10 years of transformation in the UK government digital domain.
Marks out of ten - how are we doing after a decade of public digital transformation?
Matt Jukes has posted a provocation on the tenth anniversary of his first role in a user-centred, agile digital government team. I realise that I too recently passed that milestone. There’s even a video in which you might glimpse a 10-years-younger me pointing at PostIt notes during the alpha of the service manager induction programme, which I was privileged to produce in my own first assignment for the Government Digital Service (GDS).
Weeknote: 9 to 12 May 2023
Getting out of the building on Thursday with a rain-drenched tour of some 54North homes in York. I’m a non-exec director of 54North, which was formed recently from the merger of Leeds & Yorkshire and York Housing Associations. The exec team seem to be doing a great job of bringing the two organisations together, despite challenging times for the social housing sector as a whole, and some difficult personal news affecting close colleagues.
Weeknote: 2 to 5 May 2023
The Leeds hub for the new NHS England is starting to get busier, and chance conversations with colleagues are getting more frequent. I managed to cycle in on 3 out of the 4 working days, but got the bus on Friday when it was raining. I’m only a fair weather cyclist! We spent a lot of time this week going through the outcomes of the collective consultation phase on the reorganisation.
Short weeknote: 3 to 5 April 2023
A short week because of the Easter bank holiday break, but I packed a lot into 3 working days. In the Leeds office, a planning call for the week ahead on work toward our Product teams’ future operating model, an all staff call led by senior leaders to welcome colleagues from Health Education England, the third of the legacy arms length bodies that are joining together to create the new NHS England, and weekly calls on the work to accelerate the development of our national digital channels.
Weeknote: 27 to 31 March 2023
In a team “away day” in the Canary Wharf office with our executive director, Helen, and other members of her senior leadership team, we took some time at the start to listen to Professor Geoff Bird from the University of Oxford, before thinking together about the strengths in our team, and how we work together. I dipped into the NHS England Public Participation team’s #StartWithPeople Spring Event.
Weeknote: 20 to 24 March 2023
Back to work after a much-needed week off, during which we attended the funeral of a family friend who died too soon. Spending every day of the week in the new Leeds office, including chance meetings with colleagues, almost like the old days. I was especially pleased to hear that Rochelle and other user research colleagues got to demonstrate NHS England’s recently opened in-house user research lab to our CEO Amanda Pritchard and other national leaders as a part of a visit on Tuesday.
Weeknote: 6 to 10 March 2023
Three out of five days were taken up with module three of the Project Leadership Programme (PLP) at Cranfield University. Having switched cohorts due to a work commitment after module one, this time I felt I knew my fellow participants a little better, and enjoyed breaktime and dinner conversation with them, which inevitably came back to the common challenges we all face across the public sector. I got a lot out of a session run by former Environmental Audit Select Committee chair Mary Creagh.
Weeknote: 27 February to 3 March 2023
“If you were talking to a patient about how to access services, what would you say?” I joined a meeting with some very senior leaders, led by colleagues from the NHS England strategy team, who are doing a rapid piece of work to help us answer that question more clearly. Service access goes much wider than digital, but if we’re clear about what we’re asking people to do regardless of channel, then we’ll be able to create more effective digital services.
Weeknote: 20 to 24 February 2023
A long delayed get-together for the “legacy NHS England” colleagues in my Digital Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) team. As a geographically-dispersed team, this was the largest number of us all together in one place since I took on my current role in March 2021. Originally it was going to be a team meeting in December, followed by Christmas dinner, but with changes of date and venue, it had been delayed by a couple of months.
Weeknote: 13 to 17 February 2023
A calmer week than usual, perhaps because many colleagues were on half term holidays. Even so, writing these notes, I realise I packed a lot in. Also a return to the office milestone: for the first time I worked in Quarry House 5 days running. That was my personal choice, and I’m fortunate to live in easy travelling distance of my usual office base. A couple of serendipitous corridor conversations resulted.
Weeknote: 6 to 10 February 2023
I spent some time this week trying to make sure teams were talking to each other about various strands of activity that are running in parallel across digital urgent and emergency care. They’re all coming at different aspects of the same problem from different angles, and while each has a separate rationale and set of senior sponsors, they’ll only achieve their intended outcomes if they’re joined up from the outset. This is no time for siloed working.
Week-and-a-bit-note: 29 December 2022 to 6 January 2023
A note covering the past week, and also the working day I put in between Christmas and New Year. After a hectic run-up to Christmas, I was glad to have a meeting-free day to go back to my work objectives and identify the things I really need to focus on in January 2023. I used this as a basis for a short note to senior leaders in my team, and scheduled it to send on Tuesday morning.
Short weeknote: 12 to 16 December 2022
Only 3 days in work this week because I took 2 days off to celebrate my oldest son’s graduation for his Master’s degree. Boy #1 got a distinction to add to his first class Classics BA. Something, something, social mobility — he is the third generation of Manchester graduates in the family. We took him out for a nice Japanese meal, stayed overnight in a posh hotel, and visited the historic John Rylands Library, where I researched for my own degree a very long time ago.
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