My time at Cambridge taught me that there’s always room for improvement, and I firmly believe change is possible.

DJ Hamblin-Brown, founder and CEO of Careful Systems Ltd.

Who: DJ Hamblin-Brown, an Emergency Medicine specialist doctor and CEO & Founder of CAREFUL, a clinical coordination platform.

What: Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) Advanced Course in Production Methods and Management (ACPMM), 1984/85.

Why: “Developing analytical and engagement skills taught me how to articulate my ideas effectively, from the shop floor to the boardroom. It’s essential to communicate complex problems clearly to everyone, whether it’s a blast furnace operator or a manager, and to think through challenges systematically to find innovative solutions.”

DJ is an innovative healthcare leader who is transforming patient management and coordination, drawing on a rich tapestry of experiences. His story highlights how practical learning, a positive mindset and the ability to connect with people on every level can drive meaningful change in complex systems — skills he attributes to his transformational year at the IfM at the University of Cambridge.

Impactful Learning

From a young age, DJ aspired to be both a doctor and to study at the University of Cambridge. However, when a school career advisor encouraged him to explore a different path, he enrolled on their engineering programme instead, later transferring to the two-year Computer Science tripos. Although computer science was a burgeoning field and DJ was fascinated by its potential, he still felt drawn to the more practical side of engineering.

The Advanced Course in Production Methods and Management (ACPMM) course, a predecessor of the Industrial Systems, Manufacture and Management (ISMM) MPhil, taught at the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), was the ideal choice for DJ. This early incarnation of the programme was known for its immersive approach, featuring site visits, discussions, and projects within real-world manufacturing environments. He was attracted to the emphasis on experiential learning and the chance to observe the manufacturing process up close.

“As a child, I always loved those segments on TV shows where they showed you how a factory worked. I have always been drawn to making things myself. The ACPMM was incredibly practical, focusing on how things are actually made, which I found fascinating,” explains DJ. “The experience was formative, providing a deep understanding of manufacturing. Every two weeks, we moved to a different project, and tackled real-world problems in environments like Airbus and steel plants — even a brewery! We learned far more than any lecture could offer.”

DJ (third from right) with his course-mates after a visit to a coal mine.

The course equipped DJ with analytical and critical thinking skills, enabling him to engage with people across all levels, from the shop floor to the boardroom. These skills became foundational for his career and were instrumental in developing the clinical software he now champions

The journey

Since completing the course, DJ has had a varied career, initially working as a computer analyst in the City of London before pursuing his dream of becoming a doctor at the age of 28, taking a leap of faith to complete a medical degree at the University of Nottingham and joining the NHS as a Junior Doctor.

“While I enjoyed helping patients and developed a deep respect and humility for their suffering, I was always frustrated by the inefficiencies in the medical system. It was astounding that highly trained professionals spent so much time on paperwork and data entry,” DJ reflects. “Having experienced the focus on productivity in manufacturing it became a real issue for me, sparking my interest in operational efficiencies for doctors.”

Seeking a break from the grind of a junior hospital medic, in 1998, DJ transitioned to management consultancy for several years. He then returned in 2003, finding his clinical calling in emergency medicine.

“The fast pace and multitasking in emergency medicine are what I love most. It’s very direct. It can be exciting. Done well, you can have an immediate and tangible impact on patients,” he explains. “As I moved into leadership roles, I relied on the skills I gained during my time in Cambridge. It’s remarkable how that one year has influenced my entire career.”

As his career progressed, DJ used these skills to move into healthcare advisory roles, in 2015 becoming medical director for a group of UK hospitals. In 2018 he was appointed VP for Medical Affairs, the chief clinician, for a group of seven hospitals spread over five cities in China. This role involved bringing systematic rigour into the governance systems and acting as a senior leader, figurehead and advocate for good medical practise within a complex environment.

“Getting things done in China presents some interesting challenges, but I was able to effect significant change in my two years there, working alongside an incredibly talented and diverse team from many countries,” DJ explains. “The skills I learnt throughout the ACPMM continued to help me to understand the importance of structured systems and engagement at all levels of the organisation, which was so important to this role.”

However, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, DJ was forced to return to the UK, and aside from rejoining the NHS as an A&E doctor, he has dedicated the intervening time to the development of CAREFUL, a clinical coordination platform that he has built with a small team.

Impactful people

DJ founded CAREFUL in response to a deeply personal experience: a clinical error that caused considerable harm to his mother, the result of poor communication on a busy medical ward. This incident exposed a critical issue in patient management — the lack of real-time coordination between doctors, departments, and organisations, leading to clinical errors and a lack of accountability.

“Many physicians share my frustrations with patient management but feel stuck in the system,” DJ says. “My time at Cambridge taught me that there’s always room for improvement, and I firmly believe change is possible. This conviction drives me to pursue this, despite the challenges we face trying to get the NHS to adopt new digital solutions on the front line.”

The CAREFUL app in use by a clinician.

To address this gap, DJ created CAREFUL, a secure, collaborative platform that replaces informal tools like bleeps, spreadsheets, WhatsApp, and email. Its goal is simple but powerful: to connect all the clinicians involved in a patient’s care in real time, fostering meaningful collaboration. Developed iteratively in partnership with healthcare institutions to ensure usability and effectiveness, CAREFUL has already been implemented in the UK, Australia, and the UAE.

“The NHS is a difficult market to penetrate. It is so big and complex, and often the people purchasing the product are far removed from the people using it,” says DJ. “But we persist as it is such a worthwhile thing to do, and the feedback we get from medical professionals working with our technology speaks for itself, and the impact on both clinicians’ productivity and patient safety has already been very clearly demonstrated.”

With a focus on simplifying the system, CAREFUL unifies the diverse systems and data silos that surround each patient, providing a user-friendly, patient-centred platform that fosters seamless communication and coordination. Its impact is already evident:

• A 30 to 60-minute reduction in admin time per clinician per shift (~15% time saving).
• Fewer medical errors across pathways involving GPs, pharmacies, and elderly care homes — a pathway where mistakes are often made due to the number of coordinating services.
• Improved discharge efficiencies, with studies underway to provide numerical evidence. This significantly impacts the flow of patients through the system, ensuring that the most unwell are transferred to wards and receive the care they need.

By giving healthcare professionals a unified platform to access, share, and update patient information on the go, CAREFUL enables a more agile, responsive, and patient-centric approach to care.

“Organisations need to fundamentally transform how care is coordinated to keep pace with the increasing chronic disease burden and workforce pressures,” DJ states. “Our ambition now is to scale up the product and create real impact. We have set our sights on improving cancer care, in particular.”

Focusing on cancer

CAREFUL was recently selected for inclusion in the digital library of C/Can (City Cancer Challenge), a Swiss NGO working to improve cancer care across 40 cities in low- and middle-income countries.
“Cancer patients are in desperate need of proper clinical coordination, even in rich countries, but helping rapidly growing cities to improve outcomes will be a really worthwhile focus for our business,” DJ explains. “We are currently looking for support from pharma companies and individuals to bring these projects to fruition.”

40 Years of Friendship

2024 marked the 40-year anniversary of DJ’s ACPMM cohort, which the group celebrated with a reunion in London. They spent the time reminiscing about their experiences. A shared highlight of their time together was the playful incident when they rearranged the doors on the minibus’s which were used to assign project teams, creating multicoloured vehicles. As they reflected on their time together, they discussed how these experiences have profoundly shaped their careers.

ACPMM minibus with mismatched doors.

“What the course really gave me was camaraderie that was inspiring,” DJ reminisces. “It was hard work, lots of travelling and a fair few terrible B&B’s, but I have rarely felt so close to a group of people before or since. After 40 years, it was easy to fall back into comfortable conversation. It taught me an important life lesson about real, collaborative teamwork and friendship. We’re going to meet up again this summer!”

The IfM featured DJ as part of its From Learning to Impact series of interviews on the leaders and change-makers of the future originally published on the IfM Medium blog