Reclaiming Time for Care: NHS Success with Bytes FastTrack and Copilot
Tuesday 11th November 2025
In one of the most ambitious healthcare AI pilots to date, Microsoft 365 Copilot was deployed across 90 NHS organisations (over 30,000 staff) – yielding an average 43 minutes saved per worker per day. That’s up to 400,000 staff hours reclaimed each month for higher-value care tasks. This post explores how the NHS is leveraging Copilot together with Bytes to unlock such productivity gains, and how Bytes and the updated Bytes FastTrack service can help your organisation adopt these tools effectively.
Copilot in the NHS: A New Era of Productivity
The recent NHS pilot of Microsoft 365 Copilot – an AI assistant integrated into tools like Teams, Outlook, Word, and Excel – demonstrated eye-opening productivity gains. With Copilot helping draft emails, summarise Teams meetings, triage inboxes, and even draft referral letters, NHS staff saw routine tasks completed faster and more accurately.
Early results announced by the UK Government showed 43 minutes saved per person per day, time that clinicians and administrators can redirect to patient care and critical decision-making. In aggregate, that could free up hundreds of thousands of hours every month across the health service.
Equally important, user feedback has been resoundingly positive. In a parallel government trial with civil servants, 85% agreed Copilot provided good value and 82% said they “wouldn’t want to return to pre-AI working conditions” – sentiment echoed by NHS clinicians in the pilot.
This suggests that when staff have the right tools and training, they embrace AI as a co-worker, not a threat. By automating basic actions (like transcribing meeting notes or sifting emails) Copilot allows professionals to focus on higher-value work – whether that’s direct patient interaction or complex problem-solving.
FastTrack: Laying the Foundation for Success
How did the NHS pilot succeed so rapidly? A critical factor was Bytes Healthcare’s role in enabling adoption.
Bytes, as a trusted Microsoft partner, was embedded in the trial to help each NHS trust get the most out of Copilot. We delivered tailored Copilot workshops across all participating trusts. These sessions focused on:
- Practical use cases (e.g. showing doctors how to have Copilot draft clinic letters or summarise research articles)
- Effective prompting techniques (teaching staff how to ask Copilot the right questions for the best results via the GCSE method)
- Governance and safety protocols (ensuring AI outputs were reviewed and compliant with NHS data standards).
We also supported change management by training digital champions in each trust to drive adoption and share best practices.
This hands-on enablement was provided through Microsoft’s FastTrack programme – an initiative that Bytes offers at no additional cost to NHS Trusts.
In essence, FastTrack is a guided service for planning, deploying and adopting Microsoft 365 technologies (including Copilot and W365). Through FastTrack, NHS organisations received:
- Remote planning workshops
- Technical remediation guidance
- Ongoing expert support from Bytes specialists to prepare their environments for Copilot
The FastTrack service follows a proven “Envision – Onboard – Drive Value” framework: first defining the organisation’s vision and success plan, then remotely onboarding technical prerequisites, and finally driving user adoption to achieve ROI. This systematic approach helped the NHS trusts move from pilot to productive use quickly and smoothly.
Why Bytes Healthcare?
Choosing the right partner is crucial when rolling out cutting-edge solutions at scale. Bytes is uniquely positioned to support Copilot adoption in healthcare and the broader public sector. We are among the top 1% of Microsoft partners globally, recognised as a
This elite status means we have a direct line to Microsoft – getting early insights into new Copilot features and influence over product direction – and we’re first in line for funding programs that can benefit our customers (to the tune of 1.6M and counting).
Bytes are also the UK’s #1 Microsoft 365 Copilot partner, having deployed Copilot for over 900 customers and managing 250,000+ licenses to date. Our track record includes delivering measurable results.
Furthermore, Bytes is the one of few FastTrack partners certified across all Microsoft 365 workloads (from Azure and Security to Modern Work and Business Apps). In practice, this means whatever aspect of digital transformation you’re tackling – be it deploying Teams Phone or rolling out Copilot – our experts have the top-level accreditation and experience to guide you.
We’ve attained all 7 Microsoft Solutions Partner designations and 10 specialisations under the AI Cloud Partner program, reflecting a depth and breadth of expertise that few others can match.
Our commitment to innovation is not just on paper. In the past year, Bytes Healthcare hosted multiple Copilot Prompt-a-thon events in London, Bristol, Manchester, York and the Humber to bring NHS digital leaders and frontline staff together. In these high-energy sessions, teams explored real-world Copilot scenarios, shared tips on crafting prompts, and built momentum for AI adoption across the NHS. This community approach – connecting peers to swap success stories – accelerates learning and buy-in dramatically.
Register for our latest Copilot Prompt-a-thon event in December 2025:
Driving Adoption Together – Next Steps
The NHS Copilot trial has shown that with the right support, AI copilots can meaningfully augment healthcare work – freeing clinicians from clerical drudgery and giving them time back for patients. But adopting AI at scale is a journey, not a one-off event. It requires vision, training, and continuous support. That’s where Bytes can partner with you for the long term.
Whether you’re just starting to explore Copilot or looking to expand a successful pilot, The Bytes FastTrack serivce can provide the expertise to embed AI in your organisation’s daily workflow safely and effectively.
Ready to unlock this level of productivity in your organisation?
Reach out to Bytes to learn how our FastTrack services and Copilot workshops can be tailored to your needs. And don’t miss our upcoming webinar on The Bytes FastTrack service on 27th November at 2pm, where we’ll dive deeper into Copilot adoption best practices in the NHS– featuring success stories and live Q&A with our experts.
Download our in-depth Copilot Adoption Guide here to get started with practical steps and insights. By taking advantage of these resources, you can confidently navigate the AI revolution in the public sector – and ensure your team reaps the full benefits of being supported by Copilot.
Bytes is here to help you accelerate into this new era of productivity, faster and smarter.
Act now! The FastTrack funding will expire on January 31st 2026. Please reach out ASAP to secure your place!
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