If we want to move from pilot to practice, we have to plan for reality rather than just possibility. That means building outcome visions and delivery plans that take into account the real-world conditions we’re operating in: legacy tech, regulatory frameworks and staffing pressures are common across many sectors, but in healthcare there are specific challenges associated with all of these.

Many legacy systems in health care are deeply interwoven into day-to-day operations. A new digital service might look great on paper, but without understanding the dependencies those legacy systems carry – from data access, to operational routines, to reporting requirements - it’s unlikely to succeed in practice.

Early, careful discovery work is essential to map these dependencies. Where possible, solving data retention needs outside of legacy platforms can reduce reliance on outdated infrastructure and create new freedom to innovate.

A great example of doing discovery well is eConsult, a digital health business set up by a group of GPs who understand from daily experience the pain points in delivering patient care.

Opencast worked with eConsult to help it develop its digital triage service, which has lifted pressure in GP and acute care settings. Before eConsult moved to build out the new service, it took time to understand the day-to-day challenges, and did a thorough discovery phase that helped it understand more about what clinicians and patients needed.

Just this year Opencast supported eConsult – now Huma following its acquisition in 2024 – in the development of a new AI-driven GP transcriber. A first step was to identify more about what clinicians needed to ease time pressures on them. Opencast’s design team helped eConsult to define the needs of patients and staff – and this helped inform the development of a prototype of the new service.