500 staff. One day. A new digital strategy.
The first Elevate event, at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, did something the NHS had not managed at this scale: it put frontline clinical staff directly into the trust's digital investment decisions.
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton brought together 500 NHS staff from across the organisation - executives, clinicians, ward teams, and procurement - in a single day. For the first time, frontline clinical staff shaped the trust's digital investment decisions directly.
What one day delivered.
How it happened.
Digital decisions, made without the frontline.
Like most trusts, UHDB's technology choices were shaped by a small digital team. The people who'd actually use the tools - and the executives funding them - rarely sat in the same conversation.
Whole-workforce, in one room.
Elevate curated relevant suppliers to the trust's priorities and brought 500 staff across every tier into a single day of structured engagement - hands-on, honest, and high-energy.
Insight that changed the strategy.
The feedback captured on the day fed directly into UHDB's 2026-2030 digital strategy, and suppliers left with follow-up meetings that would otherwise have taken months to arrange.
What the NHS and suppliers said.
We had unprecedented engagement right across the organisation. It gave us genuine insight into what our staff need - not just what leadership thinks they need. That's rare.
Elevate put staff needs at the centre of our technology decisions - which is exactly where they should be.
The real-time feedback we captured directly shaped how we're thinking about our digital strategy. That's a genuinely new capability for an NHS trust.
The direct engagement with frontline colleagues was unlike anything I'd seen before. The feedback was authentic, unfiltered, and genuinely useful for understanding NHS priorities.
Vendors: bring your emerging technologies to Elevate. The NHS workforce is ready for the conversation - and we need it.
The opportunity to genuinely transform how our workforce experiences technology - that's what Elevate represents for the NHS.
Be part of the next one.
Whether you're a supplier or an NHS organisation, Elevate is coming to a trust near you in 2026.