The sun shone down as we strode into Digital Health Rewired at the Business Design Centre in Islington on Tuesday 15th March 2022, for our first ‘in person’ conference for over two years – and what a show it was for CLEO Systems!
The venue was buzzing with digital health activity and with over 2,000 visitors it was a fantastic opportunity to catch up with colleagues, clients, and industry peers.
Exhibiting at the conference meant that we could spend time talking about all things electronic prescribing, urgent care, patient pathways and CLEO Systems! We were there ostensibly to launch our CLEO SOLO EPS software – which will help improve prescribing efficiency and clinical safety whilst keeping patients at the heart of your service.
We had a chance to talk to customers about our latest updates, but the calibre of speakers at Digital Health Rewired was not lost on us. We were able to enjoy a wide range of inspirational speakers, sharing their views and updates across the healthcare technology workspace.
Day 1 saw NHS Digital’s interim CEO Simon Bolton presenting and he stressed the slightly worrying fact that organisations at the centre of the NHS must demonstrate leadership following a “gradual decline into chaos” over the last couple of years. Simon also spoke about three main objectives: focusing on the workforce, encouraging people from all kinds of communities to have a career in digital healthcare and providing support for shorter term skills problems.
At CLEO Systems we are passionate about interoperability and using digital health as an enabler for change and enhanced patient care, so it was fascinating to hear Dr Timothy Ferris, Director of Transformation at NHS England and Improvement speaking about the ‘patchy’ level of digital maturity across the NHS (read more here by Digital Health https://www.digitalhealth.net/2022/03/tim-ferris-digital-maturity-patchy/ ) So this was somewhat of a clarion call for us! He also focused on the capacity challenges facing the NHS as well as how we need to become more ‘joined up’, learning lessons from the pandemic and how we need to make progress on digital infrastructure. A classic quote is, “In 2022 it’s not okay to be personally witnessing mistakes being made on paper. The advantages to patients of having electronic systems safeguard for written errors is now so well established.”
We were also really interested in the Urgent Care focus in ‘How will Place become the heart of ICSs?’ where Connor Burke CEO at UHUK presented and spoke about Urgent Care being the ‘glue’ that holds services together.
We also really enjoyed the Digital Patient Safety Leadership Panel which featured Ann Slee, Associate CCIO (Medicine) NHS Transformation Directorate on Day 2. This focused on patient safety in a digitally transforming sector and the NHS focus on working with suppliers and clinicians so that patient safety stays front and centre of the digital agenda.
All in all, a fantastic event for CLEO Systems, and we’re looking forward 2023 Digital Health Rewired already!