Plymouth-based business celebrates 10 years of growth into a Westcountry success story

24th October 2024, Plymouth, UK  

A pioneering Westcountry business is celebrating a decade of helping people to do amazing things. 

Plymouth-based Delt Shared Services has gone from just two customers to more than 250 today, helping it to return millions of pounds to its public sector owners for investment in public services. 

Delt was the brainchild of Plymouth City Council and NHS Devon, who wanted an organisation that would deliver essential back-office functions such as IT, HR and payroll while keeping high-tech roles in the local area. 

And it worked. Today Delt is a Westcountry business success story, providing services across 400 locations and contributing millions of pounds in social value every year to the South West as a whole. 

Giles Letheren, Delt’s Chief Executive said the birthday celebrations were an opportunity to show how the organisation was making a real difference. 

Delt’s success story extends beyond financial performance. As a living wage employer and a supporter of the Armed Services Covenant, Delt is committed to social responsibility.  

The company also leads in environmental sustainability, with plans for a net-zero data centre and green electricity powering its operations.  

Straight from the off Delt bucked the national trend by delivering both cost savings and service quality improvements, something other similar businesses were failing to do. 

Over the past decade, Delt has returned over £5 million in dividends to its shareholders – funds directly reinvested into local NHS services, schools, and services for the elderly. 

This is on top of the £20 million that it contributes annually in social value to the South West through well-paid high-tech or specialist roles – jobs that could have disappeared from Plymouth if Delt did not exist. 

Giles said that what set Delt apart was its unique blend of private sector efficiency with public sector values.  

“We’ve shown that it’s not about cutting corners – it’s about working smarter and delivering more,” he said.

“Our people are at the heart of our success, and we continuously invest in their skills to ensure they can offer the best to our customers.”

With a decade of growth behind it and the continued support of key shareholders, Delt is poised to build on its success. “We’re committed to helping more organisations in the South West and beyond achieve better service outcomes through shared services. 

“And the more profits we make, the more people in Plymouth and the wider Devon area benefit.”

David Northey, Plymouth City Council Director of Finance, said: “When we first established Delt, with NHS Devon, we wanted it to become a company that could provide us with high quality services – enabling us to continue our work to make Plymouth a great place to live, work and visit. From our front-line services to our back-office engine room, the services that Delt provide help us 24/7 to deliver over 300 services. Since its launch, Delt has continued to grow and thrive and I look forward to seeing how the company develops further over the next ten years. Thank you to all colleagues at Delt for all their support. Happy Birthday!”  

Malcolm Senior, NHS Devon’s Director of Digital Transformation, said: “We would like to wish Delt and its staff a very happy birthday. We have enjoyed working with the Team at Delt and happy to see that it’s reached this significant milestone.”  

10 years of helping people do amazing things, take a look at our story…

Innovative GP Cloud Platform Takes Home Prestigious Virtual Care Award at 2024 HSJ Awards

26th March 2024, Plymouth, Devon

Devon-based shared services provider, Delt, is excited to announce that its GP in the Cloud (GPitC) platform, developed with partners NHS Devon, Integy, and NASGP (National Association of Sessional GPs), has been officially named as the “Gold” winner in the ‘Virtual Care Project of the Year’ category at the HSJ Partnership Awards 2024, in recognition of an outstanding dedication to improving healthcare and effective collaboration with the NHS.

The same team also won a Silver Award in the very competitive ‘Best Healthcare Provider Partnership with the NHS’ award. The gala ceremony, held at Evolution London in Battersea Park on Thursday 21st March 2024, saw the project team praised for their innovative approach to revolutionising virtual care services.

In presenting GP in the Cloud the Virtual Care Award, judges praised the project team for “working together to set up and deliver a service that enables safe, effective virtual care.”

“It (GP in the Cloud) involved patients in the care plan, equipping them to contribute to their own recovery, and has potential to scale up to meet future care demands.”

The GPitC platform emerged as a response to the GP shortage in Devon, addressing a pivotal challenge in digital primary care innovation. During the Covid-19 pandemic, online consultations transformed GP services, but limitations persisted due to system constraints. To overcome this, Delt collaborated with NHS Devon, cloud computing experts Integy, and the National Association of Sessional GPs (NASGP) to create ‘GP in the Cloud’. This technology enables GPs from anywhere in the UK to conduct consultations remotely, enhancing patient access and practice flexibility.

Thirty-four Devon practices participated in the pilot project, successfully embedding GP in the Cloud. By the end of 2022, it became the standard model across the Devon ICB footprint, delivering thousands of additional clinical hours and cost savings.

Recognising its success, NHS England sought Devon ICB’s blueprint for regional and national rollout, positioning GP in the Cloud for future nationwide availability.

Commenting on the recent win, Dr John McCormick, Chief Clinical Information Officer for Devon ICB, said: “This award is wonderful recognition for a project that brings tangible benefits to GP practices and patients, and a tribute to the organisations that delivered it. Each of the partners involved in GP in the Cloud brings a specialism. It is the combination of these specialisms that resulted in the success of this project. It is an outstanding example of true partnership working and what can be achieved.”

Delt CEO, Giles Letheren, added: “We are incredibly proud of our team and partners for delivering a groundbreaking solution that directly benefits NHS Devon and patients alike. Our joint win highlights the transformative impact of collaboration and technology in driving efficiency and accessibility within primary care settings. To have co-designed and implemented GP in the Cloud, a remote access platform that enables locum GPs to access a patient’s full medical record safely, securely and from any location, without the need to be issued a dedicated laptop, is good, but the bigger victory is in working together. The project itself was made feasible solely due to the willingness of NHS Devon to collaborate effectively with multiple partners. While the win for Virtual Care Project of the year reflects the utility and impact of our platform, we are perhaps even prouder of our silver award for Best Partnership.”

As Delt and their partners celebrate this achievement, they remain dedicated to advancing healthcare service excellence and look forward to continuing their journey of innovation in partnership with the NHS and healthcare providers across the UK.

The winners were selected following a rigorous two-stage judging process ahead of the HSJ Partnership Awards 2024 awards ceremony. The full list of Winners and those Highly Commended for the 2024 HSJ Partnership Awards can be found at https://partnership.hsj.co.uk/winners-2024

Delt Shared Services earns place on Newsweek’s list of the Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces for 2023 

5th October 2023, Plymouth, Devon

Delt Shared Services today announced that they have been ranked as #9 among 100 UK companies recognised for outstanding employee sentiment and satisfaction.  

Newsweek recently published their annual rankings for the Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces® list, the result of a collaboration with the Best Practice Institute (BPI), a leadership development and benchmark research company.    

The results were determined after surveying more than two million employees from businesses with workforces varying in size from 50 to more than 100,000. The list recognises companies that have created a workplace where employees feel respected, inspired, and appreciated and are at the centre of the business model.   

Giles Letheren, CEO at Delt said: “I’m absolutely delighted that we have been accredited as a Most Loved Workplace, a certification that recognises companies for creating emotionally connected workplaces. I firmly believe that our team is truly exceptional, and our people are our most valuable assets. Our commitment to collaboration, teamwork, opportunities for advancement, and a culture of understanding and respect are some of the reasons why we have earned this recognition. We believe that creating a workplace where everyone can thrive empowers us to collaborate effectively and deliver exceptional results for our customers. This is essential to fulfilling our aim of helping people do amazing things.”  

Jane White, Chief People and Culture Officer added: “We are extremely pleased to be recognised by the prestigious Newsweek as #9 on their list of Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces. Delt works hard to ensure that our culture is employee-centric, and this award is a recognition of the hard work we’ve put into gathering employee feedback and taking actionable steps that benefit our employees.”  

 The key areas included in the analysis are based on how well companies demonstrate the areas within the Spark Model as defined by BPI including Systemic Collaboration, Positive Vision of the Future, Alignment of values, Respect, and Killer Achievement. Employee sentiments and emotions indicating how engaged employees are, how positive they feel about their workplace, and how committed they are to the organization’s success were analysed to identify the Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces.   

 “With the rapidly changing workplace and competition for top talent, more companies are recognising the importance of employee engagement and commitment”, said Nancy Cooper, Global Editor in Chief, Newsweek. “The workplaces that have demonstrated a commitment to their employees in 2023 are more likely to attract the best talent and deliver strong business outcomes.”  

 “Fully understanding and acting upon employee sentiment, emotion, and recommendations continues to be a challenge and top priority of executive leadership,” said Louis Carter, CEO of Best Practice Institute. “The companies on this list have committed to listening carefully to their employees to create a workplace employees love.”  

As a publicly owned but privately operated company founded in 2014 by shareholders, Plymouth City Council, and the NHS Devon, Delt is a shared services provider dedicated to providing comprehensive and complex back-office services including Payroll, Finance, IT, Cyber Security, Print and Mail, HR, Estates Management and Management Consulting to public sector organisations in the South West of England.   

To date, the company’s efforts have made a significant impact creating an annual socio-economic gain of nearly £16M in the region. With a presence in over 250 service areas across 400 locations, Delt plays a crucial role in supporting many of the area’s critical services, including NHS trusts, local government, blue light services, and educational institutions.    

For the full Newsweek list of 2023’s Most Loved Workplaces, please visit: https://www.newsweek.com/rankings/uks-100-most-loved-workplaces-2023   

  To find out more about why Delt was recognised for outstanding employee sentiment and satisfaction, please visit: Delt Shared Services – Most Loved Workplace®  

Delt Shared Services and Integy’s Revolutionary GP Cloud Platform is Shortlisted at the HSJ 2023 Awards

Devon-based shared services provider, Delt, is delighted to announce that its GP in the Cloud (GPitC) platform, developed for NHS Devon, has been shortlisted in the ‘Digitising Patient Care’ award category at the prestigious Health Service Journal (HSJ) Awards 2023. 

The ‘Digitising Patient Care’ award category aims to acknowledge effective initiatives that have harnessed technology and digital systems to enhance patient access to care, enable staff to optimise capacity, and elevate the overall experience and quality of healthcare. 

The GPitC platform effectively addresses a pivotal challenge in the evolution of digital primary care innovations. Amid a GP shortage in Devon, innovative strategies were sought for efficient primary care. Online consultations reshaped GP services during Covid-19, but limits persisted, hindering remote locum use due to system constraints. To address this, Delt worked collaboratively with cloud computing experts, Integy, NHS Devon and the National Association of Sessional GPs (NASGP) to pioneer a groundbreaking technology solution called ‘GP in the Cloud’. 

GPitC enables locums located throughout the UK to conduct patient consultations seamlessly over the internet. This is achieved through a secure cloud-based virtual desktop, preserving a practice’s internal clinical system integrity while granting access to systems required for remote consultations. The outcomes have been noteworthy: substantial cost savings for primary care in Devon, heightened patient care standards, and an enhanced work-life balance for staff. 

Commenting on the recent shortlist, Dr John McCormick, GP and Chief Clinical Information Officer at NHS Devon, said: “We are very proud to be recognised this way. Being shortlisted for in the HSJ Awards 2023 will be a huge boost for our dedicated and hard-working team. 

“GP in the Cloud has been transformative for our local GP practices and made significant improvements to us being able to better meet the demands of our patients at a time that there were huge challenges in accessing local GP services. 

“Being shortlisted for these awards gives us the opportunity to share our success with colleagues from across the entire sector, as well as showcasing everything we’ve learnt through implementing our project.” 

Delt CEO, Giles Letheren, added: “We are thrilled to be involved, along with our partners, in implementing a pioneering solution for the NHS Devon that harnesses technology and digital systems to enhance patients access to care. GP in the Cloud was developed to enable GPs from anywhere in the UK to deliver support to primary care, across multiple clinical systems, without the need for dedicated NHS hardware – enabling staff to optimise capacity, improve experience and most of all the quality of care.” 

As it enters its 43rd year, the HSJ Awards maintain their position as the pinnacle of recognition for healthcare service excellence in the UK. Winners of the HSJ awards will be announced at the award ceremony on 16th November at Evolution London.