From BBC Micros to the Future of Healthcare: A Conversation with Martin Bloor, CTO

Post Date : March 2, 2026
Career
4 minutes read

In the world of IT, we often talk about “innovation” as a buzzword. But at CHEC, innovation isn’t just a slide in a deck; it’s the heart of a massive digital transformation that is actively changing patient lives.

We sat down with our Chief Technology Officer, Martin Bloor, to discuss his journey from a seven-year-old watching his dad build BBC Micros in a garage to leading one of the most ambitious Electronic Patient Record (EPR) projects in the UK healthcare sector.

A Career Built on Resilience and Curiosity

Martin’s entry into tech was sparked by pure excitement—the kind of “Aha!” moment every engineer remembers. After bypassing A-levels to focus solely on a BTEC and a Computer Science degree, Martin’s career took him across the globe, installing systems in international airports.

However, his path wasn’t without challenges. In 2013, Martin faced a life-threatening brain tumour. During a gruelling recovery period, he didn’t just wait to get better—he taught himself the future.

“Instead of just sitting around for two years, I threw myself into learning everything about the Azure Cloud… I got fully certified MCSE level. That’s six exams. That was tough.”

This blend of technical grit and adaptability is exactly what Martin has brought to CHEC since joining in 2024.

Modernising the “Engine Room”

When Martin arrived, he saw an opportunity to turn a traditional IT department into a powerhouse of modern standards. In just a few months, he led a complete cyber audit, established a dedicated compliance and cybersecurity department, and saved nearly £1 million by optimising the Azure estate.

But for Martin, the real success is the culture change fully supported by his direct reports and applied across the IT department.

No More Silos: Moving away from “deflated” departments to an inclusive, collaborative environment.
Pair Programming: Encouraging people and teams to work together to solve complex problems.
Continuous Growth: A heavy focus on “skilling up” through certifications and clear personal development plans.

The New EPR: A Game-Changer for 2026

If you’re an IT professional looking for a project with real “meat” on the bones, CHEC’s new EPR (Electronic Patient Record) is it. Martin describes it as the most exciting project of his career, and for good reason.

We are moving away from a decade-old codebase and virtual machines into a Cloud-Native, Event-Driven Architecture.

Why this matters for Tech Talent:

For tech professionals, the move to an Event-Driven Architecture (EDA) represents a significant shift from traditional CRUD-based systems. While legacy EPRs often only capture the “current state”—leaving developers and auditors in the dark about how a piece of data reached its final value—our new platform treats every change as a discrete, immutable event. This creates a high-fidelity “time-machine” effect, allowing you to reconstruct the entire history of a patient’s journey with absolute precision. For engineers, this means working on a system that is inherently more resilient, easier to debug, and capable of providing the 100% audit accuracy required in a high-stakes clinical environment.

Our commitment to NHS Integration provides a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of private innovation and public healthcare infrastructure. By tapping directly into GP Connect and NHS Login, we are removing the friction that has historically plagued patient portals. From a development perspective, this involves building sophisticated, secure bridges to national services, enabling a fluid ecosystem where patients can access their records using their existing credentials.

Finally, the Modern Stack we’ve deployed is a playground for those who want to work with cutting-edge, cloud-native tools. We have moved away from the constraints of expensive, clunky virtual machines and transitioned into a fully scalable environment powered by Azure Fabric and Cloud-Native services. By implementing industry-standard OAuth authentication and serverless components, we ensure that our infrastructure is as secure as it is efficient. For talent joining the team, this means no more battling with “boring, old codebases”—instead, you’ll be architecting solutions using the same high-performance tools that define the future of global enterprise IT.

“It’s not a case of ‘Oh, it’s broken, let’s find out what’s wrong.’ We can perform monitoring to a level never seen before, allowing us to pre-empt issues before they even happen.”

Why Join the CHEC IT Team?

At CHEC, you aren’t just “keeping the lights on.” You are building a platform that reduces the cost of healthcare, eliminates paper waste (halving the cost of GP letters), and makes the patient journey through the NHS faster and safer.

We are looking for people who want to work with the latest and greatest technology, who value security and governance, and who want to be part of a team that actually invests in their professional certifications.

Are you ready to build the future of healthcare technology? View our vancancies