Saving lives through data, with Microsoft & NHS England

Microsoft 365 and Power Platform are powerful tools for driving collaboration, data analysis, and automation in any organisation.

For the NHS, these tools represent a critical opportunity to boost productivity and improve patient care. However, to truly maximise the benefits of these platforms, it’s essential that employees are equipped with the skills to leverage them effectively.

Partnering with Microsoft and NHS England, QA delivered a series of training events aimed at empowering NHS staff to adopt these technologies. The results? Over 1,500 NHS employees were upskilled, across 230 NHS organisations.

The challenge

The NHS is committed to improving patient outcomes and internal operations through technology. To fully capitalise on the capabilities of Microsoft 365 and Power Platform, they needed the right skills. Technical teams and frontline workers were needed to put the Microsoft 365 suite to work, to improve productivity and communication.

Other staff were needed to upskill in the Power Platform to create low-code apps and analyse critical data.

With over 65 million citizens’ data records to manage, advanced data skills were essential to support the NHS “Data Saves Lives” policy.

Three key business objectives were on the table:

• Accelerate app adoption by getting NHS using Microsoft Teams on their devices.
• Enable the creation of Power Apps for greater operational efficiency.
• Support data visualisation and analysis to improve patient care and organisational processes.

The solution

That’s where we came in, with a comprehensive training programme developed to NHS business initiatives and needs in mind. The seven-month programme ranged from collaboration tools to data analysis and low-code development, including:

• 70+ training events, delivered both virtually and in-person.
• Custom courses incorporating mock patient data and NHS roadmaps. This enabled participants to visualise how their new skills could be applied to real-world scenarios, ensuring job role relevancy.
• A mix of workshops, webinars, and certifications, including:
• Power BI training and Power Platform certifications.
• Microsoft 365 device and endpoint management.
• Accessibility and sustainability workshops.
• Governance and security training, tailored for the NHS.

To ensure maximum impact, QA worked closely with stakeholders from Microsoft and NHS England to tailor each course to the specific needs of NHS employees. The programme was designed to be hands-on and interactive, giving learners the opportunity to practice their new skills in a way that closely mirrored their day-to-day work.

The result

So, what did all this come to in the end?

The success of the programme was evident in the scale of the initiative, direct feedback from participants and measurable outcomes.

Over the course of seven months:

• 1,500+ employees across 230 organisations were trained in critical data skills.
• Collaboration and efficiency improved across departments.
• The programme achieved a 9 out of 10 learner satisfaction score, with specific feedback indicating a high level of engagement and value.

Feedback from participants reflected the immediate impact the training had on their roles, allowing them to “improve the quality and level of reporting [they] produce,” as well as providing “insight on accessibility needs and considerations when producing documents for others.”

Conclusion

The partnership between QA, Microsoft, and NHS England delivered more than just a series of training sessions – it transformed how NHS teams engage with key digital tools.

By equipping the workforce with skills in Microsoft 365 and Power Platform, we ensured that NHS staff can not only navigate but thrive in a data-driven, collaborative environment.

As Chris Brierley-Roberts, Senior Training Manager at Microsoft Worldwide Learning, put it: “QA have been fantastic to work with in delivering this project. Their long-standing pedigree as a leading Microsoft Solutions Partner for Training Services, coupled with their extensive experience of delivering training solutions to the NHS, really underpinned the whole programme effort.”

The NHS data journey highlights how targeted, relevant training can drive organisational change, empowering teams to work more efficiently, deliver better services, and ultimately, improve patient care.