Why I Decided to Start a Blog…

Basically I’ve been reading the blogs of a few people within the Digital Health space over the last year, and found them really interesting and inspiring.

I am a big proponent of sharing work openly and since I’ve recently started a new job, and it being the New Year, it seemed like now was the time to do it. I was also encouraged to give it a go by Abigail – so challenge accepted.

Introducing Myself

I am a husband to an amazing wife, and father to an incredible one year old daughter. We recently had an amazing time at Disneyland Paris leading up to her first birthday, we even got to meet Santa!

Professionally I am a Clinical Pharmacist with a decade of experience working in the NHS at several hospitals, and for the last 5 years I’ve been working and specialising in Digital.

I’ve always had a passion for digital technology, and I want to be able to use this passion to help drive innovation and digitally enable transformation in healthcare.

Last year I gained a place on the NHS Digital Academy’s flagship course, the Post-Graduate Diploma in ‘Digital Health Leadership’. This was a great learning experience, but surprisingly one of the most important things I gained from the course was the chance to network with some amazing people, especially my peer group “Lost in Slang” – Jonny, Adam, Amy, Pippa, Richard and See Mun.

I recently started a new role as the Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) at the North West Ambulance Service. This is an interesting role for several reasons, and I will be talking about the many exciting projects we have underway in a future post.

There are not many Pharmacists working in general CCIO roles, and while the Faculty of Clinical Informatics (FCI) has created a model job description for CCIO’s which clearly states that the role can be fulfilled by any registered clinician (Pharmacist, Nurse, Paramedic etc…) it is much more common for it to be seen as a doctor’s role, and I’m proud to be part of a growing number of non-medical CCIOs.

I look forward to sharing my thoughts and reflections with you all.