1st February 2026: from TPX to NHSE
This is my first public weeknote. It probably won’t be weekly but I’m inspired by the weeknotes of my new colleagues at NHSE to get into these. I’ve also had ‘write more’ as a personal target for years, encouraged by Ben Holliday. Now it’s 2026, let’s see if I can make this happen.
Leaving TPX
After 7.5 years, I’ve stepped off the Uscreates -> FutureGov -> The Panapoly -> TPXimpact train. Acquisitions are funny things to be a part of because an organisation’s culture, approach and team changes almost over night. To be honest, in the earlier days, I sometimes wondered whether I would have applied for a job at my new organisation if I hadn’t ended up there as a result of an acquisition. And in moments of self-doubt, I wondered whether I would have been offered a job even if I had applied.
So staying for so long was in some ways a bit of a surprise to myself. I stayed for the brilliant people I got to work with, the projects that I got to be a part of and the freedom I had to shape design within my work. TPX does lots of really great work. Working in change and transformation, it was also pretty interesting to see how the organisation approached scaling and changing over the years.
Joining NHSE
I’ve really landed on my feet with my new role. I’ve joined NHS England as lead service designer sitting across Personalised Prevention Services (PPS) in the Digital Prevention Services Portfolio (DPSP). The services we are designing within PPS include an online health check that helps people understand their health risks, an AI health lifestyle coach to support people to stay healthy, and services that connect people to local weight management and mental health services so they can live well.
Our strategy is to build shared, reusable tools, capabilities and infrastructure that those in the prevention system can plug in to and use. In using them, local organisations can tailor them to meet their local needs and context. This is exciting design that sits bang in the middle of the NHS 10 Year Plan crossing digital, community and prevention.
This work brings in a beautiful blend of things that matter to me:
The complex world of prevention and behaviour change - particularly in reaching people often underserved by public health services
The need for system thinking and codesign with local health professionals - for these digital services to achieve their aims, they need to enable local health organisations to use them and integrate them into their own services
A really ambitious, thoughtful, driven and welcoming team.
After my second week, I think my new role is these 4 things:
Forward-looking: working closely with the PPS SLT to shape and drive the PPS strategy and align with the broader DPSP strategy
Design profession lead: supporting really good human-centred design across the PPS design teams
Cross-cutting: supporting the design teams to connect and align across work
Working with senior stakeholders: engaging with senior stakeholders to create the conditions for our teams to design and deliver great human-centred services.
Questions that have been swirling around my head in my first few weeks:
How do I support the design team to get closer to the local organisations whom it’s vital our services integrate with?
How can I help our design team and stakeholders understand and visualise how our services connect together as PPS to drive our shared vision and strategy for prevention?
How do I make sure my perspective and experience provide useful additions that drive discussions and decisions on - rather than adding to noise to an already complex space like the NHS?
How do I support the design team to do great design that follows GDS standards but isn’t so rigid an approach that it affects our ability to deliver real world change at pace?
My predecessor Ralph has written lots about PPS. Check out his weeknotes here.
Irina, Head of Product who I’m lucky to work closely with, continues to write lots about our work here.
