Ask Scott – and turn a difficult NHS challenge into a clear route forward
Direct access to Scott McKenzie for pharma, medtech and device teams to get focused help with a live pathway, launch, account or implementation problem.
- Flexible, budget-friendly options
- Understand what is really blocking progress
- Pressure-test your plan before you act
The meeting went well. So why is nothing moving?
The NHS rarely gives you a clear explanation when an opportunity stalls. A customer may see the potential in your innovation but still take no action. A pathway project becomes tangled in funding, governance or ownership. Your launch plan starts to feel disconnected from what the NHS is dealing with now. Different teams have different views on what should happen next.
Meanwhile, time passes, momentum drops and another internal meeting leaves you frustrated – with more questions than answers. An experienced sounding board could be all you need to help you understand how the NHS works, to crack the wider pathway problem and help you decide what to do next. That is exactly why the ‘Ask Scott’ service exists – because you don’t always need a lengthy consultative engagement to get the wheels moving again.
Bring the challenge you are really facing to the table
Ask Scott is a focused problem-solving session with Scott McKenzie, creator of the Pathway over Product methodology. There’s no standard agenda. The session begins with the live issue in front of you and your team right now. Scott will help you examine the challenge from both sides of NHS adoption. Together, you can work through whatever pathway pressure, patient need, stakeholders, workload, funding, governance or implementation challenge may be blocking progress. Use the session to:
- test internal assumptions
- interpret what is happening inside the NHS
- identify what your team may have missed
- determine which next move is most likely to make progress
The challenge does not need to be neatly packaged and thought out before you arrive. That’s what Scott will help you unpick and tackle together.
How does Pathway over Product apply to your situation? Some examples of what you can ask Scott McKenzie…
The session can cover a wide range of NHS pathway, adoption, implementation and engagement challenges.
A stalled NHS opportunity: Work out why positive interest has not turned into action and identify which pathway or implementation questions remain unanswered.
An important customer meeting: Clarify what you need to understand, sharpen the questions you should ask and prepare for a more relevant conversation.
A launch or market access plan: Pressure-test your approach against current NHS structures, priorities, pathways and operational realities before committing more time or budget.
An NHS pathway adoption problem: Explore where the pathway is under pressure, who owns the patient, where the workload sits and where your innovation could make a meaningful difference.
An NHS business case or proposition: Strengthen the clinical, operational and financial case for change and make the value clearer to NHS stakeholders.
A stakeholder or account plan: Identify who needs to be involved, what matters to them and how to build a more credible pathway-led approach.
An NHS policy or structural change: Understand what a new announcement, policy, funding change or reorganisation means for your organisation and what deserves your attention.
A critical internal decision: Give marketing, market access, medical, commercial or leadership teams an informed external view before deciding what to prioritise.
Ask Scott
For a one-time focused NHS challenge or an immediate decision.
Use one focused 60-minute session to work out what is really blocking progress. Receive direct challenge, practical guidance and clear next steps, followed by a written summary you can act on.
Choose Ask Scott when: the issue is defined, the decision is pressing and one expert conversation could save weeks of debate.
Investment: £475 + VAT
Embedded Advisory
For regular access, continuity and support as the work develops.
Two focused sessions every month. The first helps you develop the issue, proposition or approach. The second helps you deliver it, test the response and refine what happens next. Direct access to Scott without full consultancy or a larger programme.
Choose Embedded Advisory when: new questions emerge regularly and you need a trusted external perspective to keep moving forward.
Investment: £950 + VAT pcm
The NHS Sprint
For an active NHS project with several connected challenges.
Five focused 60-minute virtual sessions, usually across a month, to resolve barriers and accelerate momentum as decisions are made. Shape sessions around priorities, like pathway mapping, stakeholder engagement, launch planning, business cases, roll out barriers and team prep.
Choose NHS Sprint when: there are multiple moving parts and a focused burst of expert support is needed.
Investment: £1,900 + VAT
What you will leave with
By the end of each Ask Scott session, you should expect to have:
- Greater clarity about the challenge or opportunity.
- A better understanding of how the NHS is likely to view it.
- Your key assumptions tested against real NHS experience.
- A clearer view of the pathway and stakeholders involved.
- Practical recommendations.
- Defined priorities.
- Specific next steps.
- Greater confidence in the decision you need to make.
Most importantly, you will leave with a PLAN.
Get access to Scott McKenzie’s Pathway over Product resources for free
Join Embedded Edge today for free access to Scott’s wider thinking, NHS briefings, practical tools, webinars and resources. Sometimes that information is enough to help you move forward. Sometimes it reveals a more specific challenge that needs to be worked through in context and that’s where time with Scott is best spent.
The proven methodology built from both sides of NHS adoption
I know how frustrating it is to have a strong innovation and still struggle to get it adopted. I spent 10 years selling transformative products into the NHS for two major pharmaceutical companies. For more than 20 years since, I have worked directly with NHS leaders and frontline teams to redesign pathways, solve delivery problems and put change into practice.
Across more than 80 NHS projects in two years, the same pattern kept appearing: strong products stall when the pathway around them has not been built. I have brought that hard-won experience together in Pathway over Product, a practical, repeatable NHS adoption methodology that helps teams diagnose the real pathway, build the implementation model and create a route to adoption that can be sustained and scaled.
I do not sit outside the NHS commenting on it. I works inside the system, helping NHS teams redesign pathways, build services and implement change. That is why my advice is always practical, not theoretical.
What clients say about Scott’s input
Scott’s work is covered by client confidentiality and NDA arrangements, so company names are not disclosed.
"Thank you very much for the session you ran on Tuesday, the team thoroughly enjoyed it and are already planning engagements based on your insights.” NHS Pathway Development Workshop
"I think your summary has all the main points we need, is concise and is a very detailed account of what needs to be done." York Testosterone Pathway Workshop
"I believe your notes accurately reflect our conversation and the direction I would like to take." Diagnostic Pathway Strategy
"Thank you so much for taking the time to review the leaflet and share such detailed feedback, it’s genuinely useful." Near Patient Testing Pathway
Three steps to get your NHS project moving again
1. Choose the right level of support
Book one focused Ask Scott session, choose Embedded Advisory for regular input, or use an NHS Sprint for a concentrated period of support. Start with the level of help your challenge genuinely needs.
2. Put issue you’re really facing on the table
Bring the pathway, launch, account, proposition or implementation problem exactly as it stands. You do not need a polished brief. Scott will help you uncover what is really blocking progress.
3. Leave with a plan you can act on
Pressure-test your thinking, agree the priorities and turn the conversation into clear next steps, so your team knows what to do next and why.
Case studies – how Scott McKenzie turns NHS pathway challenges into successful adoption
Digital therapeutic adoption through pathway repositioning
A digital therapeutics company had a clinically credible product, but NHS stakeholders risked seeing it as another standalone tool with no clear implementation route. I reframed the proposition around the pathway – who would use it, where responsibility would sit, how patients would be selected and monitored, and what governance, funding and escalation arrangements were needed. This moved the conversation from product interest to a workable model of care. The therapeutic was successfully adopted, is now actively used in practice, and the approach is being replicated across further services.
Paediatric allergy pathway redesign
Rapidly rising paediatric allergy referrals were increasing waiting times and consuming consultant capacity, even though many cases did not require hospital-based care. Scott helped redesign the pathway through a formal hospital subcontract model, separating complex cases from those suitable for GP-led community management. The model built in specialist training, consultant and dietitian input, clear governance and rapid escalation back to secondary care. Children received appropriate care closer to home, hospital capacity was protected and the pathway has remained sustainable and has been repeatedly recommissioned.
Frequently asked questions about working with Scott McKenzie
Is Ask Scott a coaching session?
Ask Scott is a focused problem-solving session. Scott may challenge your thinking, interpret the NHS context, advise on the approach and help you plan. The conversation is centred on resolving a live issue rather than following a standard coaching programme.
Do I need to prepare a detailed brief?
No. It helps to give Scott some context when you book but you do not need a polished presentation or a fully formed proposal. The session is designed to help you make sense of a difficult or incomplete situation.
Is one session really enough?
It can be when the question is focused. An Ask Scott session can help you test an assumption, prepare for an important meeting, review a plan or decide which route to take. When the challenge needs further development, you can choose an NHS Sprint and continue the work across five sessions in one month.
Can other colleagues take part?
Ask Scott is designed as a focused one-to-one session. When several colleagues need to contribute, or the work spans multiple functions and decisions, the NHS Sprint is usually the stronger option. Sprint sessions can be individual, team-based or mixed.
Is this only for market access teams?
No. Ask Scott can support people working across market access, commercial leadership, marketing, medical affairs, key account management, implementation and cross-functional launch teams. The common need is a clearer understanding of how an innovation fits into NHS pathways and what must happen for adoption to progress.
Can we book Ask Scott regularly?
Yes. Some clients use Ask Scott as a flexible source of monthly advice and challenge without committing to a retainer. When you expect to need several sessions within one month, the NHS Sprint provides better value and greater continuity.
What happens if the challenge becomes bigger?
Some conversations reveal a wider need across a team or organisation. Scott can then develop a tailored corporate Pathway over Product programme combining practical tools, workshops and live application around your therapy areas, pathways and adoption priorities.
Stop second guessing why progress with the NHS has halted
You can keep gathering information, comparing internal opinions and hoping the next NHS conversation provides the missing answer. Or you can bring the issue to someone who understands both sides of NHS adoption and work out what needs to happen next.