What is your role and what does a typical day look like for you?
I have experience in a few different departments of the Trust ranging from pathology to informatics and digital. I think this has probably helped me reach the position I’m in now as I am able to understand both project management and the operational side of working in the NHS. My typical working day involves a blend of working with services to offer them digital support outside of projects, and supporting the move towards transformation and improvements.
Every day is different – my role involves a lot of meetings around planned projects and is also very responsive based on the demand for digital support across the Trust. At the minute, I am focusing on the GDE Programme where I actually lead one of the projects, the Paperless Clinician. This work aims to raise the digital maturity of the hospital. It involves consulting various stakeholders and working towards national targets based on scores of our digital levels. This started with about 30 projects which has now progressed into service transformation. It’s a big job as we need to develop the implementation of new systems across the Trust as well as support staff to transform to this more digital way of working.
What are the best things about your job?
I enjoy the contact with the different services in the Trust – we offer our team as a point of contact so that staff will come to us with issues or new ideas. This means I can support various areas and be involved in service improvements. We also engage with the services to prepare staff for the digital changes we have planned and to help departments achieve their goals by introducing new technologies.
Is there a particular project you’re most proud of?
Something I was really proud to be a part of was the E-Prescribing project that transformed the Trust from prescribing on paper to digital methods. This gave clinicians support and improved safety when prescribing by providing prompts and information around the correct drug interactions and dosages. This is now used all over the Trust and reduces the risk of adverse drug events.
What would you say to someone considering a career in your role?
Don’t try to bog yourself down being an expert in everything. Learn from your experience and try to understand how you can support other people’s problems from a digital perspective, even if you’re not familiar with their working areas.