Healthcare IT champion of the year

Winner:

James Norman
IT director, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust

James has launched and is implementing a strategy to provide innovative IT systems for both the trust's present site and its new, £451m hospital, which will be a landmark building for the city. One of his first projects was to carry out a proof of concept of a clinical portal. Clinicians were initially apprehensive, but the project reduced clinic times by around 45 minutes, leading to a huge decrease in waiting times for patients, and clinicians are now banging on his door to be part of a wider roll-out. James has a vision of paperless clinics, interoperability to support end to end processes, single sign-on, digital dictation and e-prescribing; most of which is now being implemented.

Finalists:

Dr Neelam Dugar
Chair, Royal College of Radiologists' Imaging Informatics Group

During her tenure as chair of the Royal College of Radiologists' Imaging Informatics Group, Neelam has changed its constitution. This has led to an increase of more than 1,000 subscribers over the past three years, thereby encouraging diverse groups (IT staff, radiographers and medical staff) to collaborate and participate in discussions, share best practices and debate on various clinical IT topics. She has lead, initiated and contributed to many discussions, with more than 1,500 posts on the forum. Neelam has personally devoted considerable time and effort in promoting common standards and in changing opinion across the NHS.

Dr Brian Fisher
GP, South London

Brian is promoting online medical record access to patients and has been a champion of this for years. He regularly meets with policy makers and local practice level to develop, to ensure patients have secure access to medical records. He is described by colleagues and associates as truly inspiring and a person who is always championing IT for social good.

Damien McCann
Head of primary care IT development, NHS Southampton City

Damien is recognised for his tireless work and dedication to helping to make NHS Southampton City one of the most technically advanced GP IT estates in the UK, and in particular for his work on the One GP Domain Project. Damien helped to deliver a hugely improved, centralised infrastructure with much greater control whilst reducing the ongoing costs of IT support. He sees the bigger picture and is able to get people on side with his ideas and vision.

Dr Stephen Miller
Medical director, NHS Connecting for Health Choose and Book Programme

Stephen is nominated as the Healthcare IT Champion of the Year for the work he has done in promoting and leading the Choose and Book programme. Improving the patient experience is always at the centre of his thinking. He has worked tirelessly, always being available to demonstrate the system to organisations across the country; from individual GP practices to the Secretary of State for Health. His leadership has been inspirational to his colleagues; he is never afraid to tackle the difficult problems and is giving clarity and direction in difficult transition times.

Ward Priestman
Director of informatics, Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Ward has been instrumental in the delivery and application of IT in the acute healthcare arena. He has overseen the site-wide implementation of electronic ordering, resulting and acknowledging for all blood and radiological tests. At the same time, he led the implementation of electronic prescribing and medication administration throughout the entire inpatient estate of over 800 beds. He is currently working on a patient and GP portal that will link directly into GP systems and share the acute clinical information with primary care.