22 FREE guides on strategically navigating the NHS - ultra rabbit hole!

Over the last few years I have written a lot. Whilst many of my articles have popped up in random order based on my weekly whims, there has been a method in my madness.

Day in day out I see that companies get the same things wrong, which leads to lost time, lost relationships, lost trust, lost opportunities, and lost potential for the healthcare system connecting with great solutions.

Many will attribute it being down to X or Y, but I have always, and continued to maintain, that in my view many healthtech companies don't fail because of the NHS, but because they don't have the strategic sophistication needed to be taken on for the NHS.

Yes, not every solution can find a home in the NHS and there are some genuinely crap ideas out there, but many fail to fully resonate in a way that changes hearts, minds and action in a messy and difficult system.

To me this is about genuine strategy - and by strategy I do NOT mean 1. tell everyone about out product, 2. find the person who buys the product, 3. scale the product - which accounts for most of the healthtech industry IMHO.

I mean something much more.

Whether it was intended or inevitable, a few years ago I had an emerging framework for common factors and considerations that come into play.

So play I did: publicly and in prose across many articles and videos, and from that playing I formed something firmer and more tangible, which became a 4 month endeavour in my 8 hour NHS Ready Course.

In the micro, and hopefully more in the macro, I have a simple aim - to raise the level of UK healthtech so good products don't fail because they lacked market fit or understanding.

So let's talk about the free shit.

Free shit 👇

My course is much more than the sum of my articles - where my articles are components of the strategy that I believe companies need, they are not in themselves the strategy.

But whilst many companies are diving into the course like article penguins 🐧⤵️🌊, not everyone can or wants to spend nearly a grand to do my course.

And that's OK, because the fact is that below, I have compiled 20 articles that feed in to the course structure itself, which at a stab probably account for ~40,000 words - AKA a small business book - that anyone can read and learn from if they're so inclined.

No gateways, no request for your email address, just click and read - with no request for anything in return...

<<<HOLD FIRE... actually, that said, if you find any of them genuinely valuable and don't click like, drop a comment or a reshare (publicly or privately) - then you'll miss an opportunity to make me really happy when I see a like for a 6m old article - it really does make my day >>>

So let me lay out the framework for (free shit) below, my course takes place over ten logically constructed modules (breakdown here if you're interested), which feed into each other building up a strategic picture.

Below, I have organised many years of articles into that order that you can work through to up your NHS game. Capiche?

WHY = The problems I see in healthtech

Because... many I talk to and work with don't actually know they need the strategy I advocate for. Since I'm about meeting the audience at their underlying problem. So to borrow from yoda I'd like to start with.... "this is why you fail"

Starting at the start - the most powerful story

Because... many companies, as per the article above, pitch solutions and do not actually meet people in the NHS where they are. Often this is the complex web of problems and challenges (or opportunities) they face, and then help show them a way through.

Then... I'd like to give you one of my first articles for healthtech about how I see this materialise.

Understanding the system and the actors

Because... many people trying to sell to the NHS don't actually understand how the NHS works, and who pays for what. Below are two articles that cover two zones - primary and community health provision, and then understanding how system responsibilities can manifest that there are multiple actors to factor.

Yet... in my course I cover the whole ecosystem in detail, including ICBs, national, power players etc. in a more cohesive way. What can I say, this is but a taster with some snapshots.

... and this is the bit about the different actors and roles.

Peer Leverage

Because... there are two major influencers here. Firstly don't be an alien when it comes to the NHS, and secondly is around how influence actually flows - by peers - internally, through networks or org to org. Here are some snapshots that give insight into the nature of the problem (again this is really comprehensive and practical in the course - blah blah - broken record etc.)

Proof problems

So... compliance is super important, and clinical + economic evidence is really important. But people don't fly your flag and push through soul destroying bureaucracy because you're compliant. The do because 1. as we covered you've called them to action because of a powerful story, and THEN you've found a way to take away their paralysing fear of risk and difficulty (which is what leads to THE BUCKET OF DEATH). Both of these need to be present.

I have popped a cheeky ditty article, but I'm also going to include a carousel with a little more info, as my articles have been a bit light in the CRITICAL cultural area.

Transformation vision

Because... erm you can't get in with just product fit, and understanding the difficulties I described above about difficulty and risk can create a dangerous Catch 22 - too minor vs too scary. So this is where I come to ratcheting.

Understanding the NHS Seasons

Because... sell sell sell sell doesn't work. Sophistication = cultivation, and very timely execution. FYI this is my most quoted, repurposed and celebrated article and the one people often talk to me about.

Dealing with objections

Because... dealing with the NHS is like running an Indiana Jones style gauntlet, and there are a range of dangerous objections that can come like poisoned darts or scary bone crushing boulders, and you need to actively head them off and prepare for them before they knock you out.

Below is one example of a big objection that can come from stakeholders.

A teaser to... Navigating tradeoffs and incentives

OK look, this area is one of the most potent and exciting parts of my course that helps companies fast track in the early stages. This article below gives you a very bold hint to what I'm talking about but is absolutely course content - sorry!

Writing business cases

Because... I went to town on this area, and loads of people come to me about these articles. Tips and Structure below are the real big hitters, and I think give you loads of information to DIY.

The importance of assets

Because... the NHS is hard to work with, and more broadly we're in a world where we should all be thinking about how digital assets should be working for us, when we can't get in the room.

Self assessment - how are you doing?

Because... why not test yourself on some of the areas I pulled together!? This could have gone at the start, but it's actually the self assessment questions I use at the end of my course.

So free shit ✅

I really hope these articles have offered some value to help you improve your early, mid or late stage healthtech or medtech business.

I put a lot of love, a lot of time and a lot of thought into them.

It feels really cathartic to put all of these in order, and take a trip down memory lane!

Now Liam does a CALL TO ACTION 📢

Why dress it up, if you're half decent at pitching you know exactly what I'm doing.

My career advising companies in healthtech has often been pitching something they don't know or think they need, and it's no different with my course.

Part of my writing these articles, beyond the endeavour of helping companies do a better job of growing in, and scaling across, the NHS, has been to help tackle that.

Fortunately I've been able to do that, have worked with many many companies and I love the conversations people bring to me around what they did differently after reading these articles, and the great results they've had.

But there is a reason I gave up work to join it all together over four months this year.

Because it needs, and needed, to be joined together.

And now, there is a comprehensive, complete, joined up course that you can work through to build a serious strategy fit for a serious system.

So, red pill <> blue pill

If you want to do it better at the NHS then check out my articles all linked above <> but if you want to do it properly...

One final rabbit hole...