The NHS operates within one of the most complex technology landscapes in the UK. With a vast number of users, devices and roles, combined with legacy systems and evolving organisational structures, NHS digital services must function reliably under pressure. Budget constraints and accelerated timelines have also created fragmented systems that complicate both collaboration and service delivery.

To address these issues, NHS England has undertaken a large-scale data migration project, the Unite Programme, which aims to transition all NHS organisations over to the NHS.net shared Microsoft Office 365 tenant. Strategically moving away from isolated M365 environments and establishing a unified national platform, enabling improved interoperability between trusts and smoother delivery of care services across NHS organisations.

University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) partnered with Trusted Technology Partnership to support planning, preparation and execution of the migration. Having supported NHS organisations with technology challenges for thirty years, we understood that the success of this migration would not only depend on technical delivery but more importantly how effectively teams were guided, informed and aligned throughout the transition.

Early and sustained engagement with internal teams is essential for any major migration. While the technical movement of data can be engineered, supporting thousands of users through behavioural change and new ways of working requires a different level of preparation, one grounded in clarity, consistency and trust.

We recognised that tailoring communication to the specific needs of different user groups would be critical to the success of this programme. Information needed to be clear, concise and delivered at the right moment, ensuring staff understood exactly what they needed to know, when they needed to know it.

To achieve this, Trusted Technology Partnership established a dedicated communications workstream from the outset. Its purpose was simple: to ensure every user and every team received the right information, in the right format, at the right time, minimising disruption and supporting a smooth transition across the organisation.

1. Aligning service, technical, and clinical teams with project objectives and timelines

2. Providing timely, digestible updates that avoided overwhelming staff

3. Reducing cognitive burden on clinical users, distilling essential guidance into clear, actionable messages

4. Ensuring operational teams were fully prepared for both the transition and the post‑migration support requirements

5. Maintaining a consistent flow of high‑quality technical insight to those responsible for frontline IT and service delivery

By structuring communication as a formal workstream, rather than an ad‑hoc output, the project ensured every stakeholder stayed informed and confident. This proactive approach reduced disruption, improved user experience, and enabled internal teams to operate with clarity throughout the migration journey.