Rising star: Santa Claus

The final rising star of 2013 is a young at heart veteran of the manufacturing, logistics, aviation, and entertainment industries, now switching to NHS IT in search of a fresh challenge and more regular working hours.

Santa Claus spoke to EHI just ahead of taking his new post with NHS England. The man who is also known as Father Christmas is literally a legend in the fields of gift giving and spreading festive joy.

As head of Elfcom, he’s run Lapland’s largest toy manufacturing and distribution operation, which became a byword for just in time delivery.

Resplendent in his trademark red robes and white beard, he says: “It’s the busiest time of year for us.” But it might not be for much longer. “When I saw that Amazon had developed delivery drones I thought: ‘Blimey, your time’s bloomin’ up me old son’.”

So after one final huzzah, at the end of this Christmas, he will be hanging up the sleigh and transferring the whole Christmas delivery operation to Jeff Bezos.

Rudolph and his team are relocating from Lapland to San Francisco. “I had a lot of start-up offers from VCs, and Google offered me a position, but I didn’t fancy the climate.”

He’s making a list…

Still, Claus says he is up for fresh challenges: “I’ve still got a lot to give.” But why choose a switch to information management?

Claus explains: “Well, a lot of people talk about big data, but try sorting millions of Christmas lists and making sure every child gets the right presents. It’s not easy.”

What big data analytics tips has he picked up over the years? “Well, Mrs Claus and I sort out all the lists into big piles on the kitchen table, and it really helps to use some sort of paperweights – otherwise the lists just blow around every time the door’s opened.”

He says one area he’s keen to work on at NHS England is helping the commissioning board improve its management of tech-fund applications.

“It’s a lot like Christmas lists, but with kids having to audition for gifts. Much easier if you just know who’s been naughty or nice,” he chortles.

NHS Ho, Ho, Ho

His specific interest in NHS IT came from stumbling across a piece on EHI. “It started when I read this great column by Patient Opinion’s Dr Paul Hodgkin about the gift economy in healthcare. I thought: ‘That’s something I can really relate to’,” he says.

Then there followed a chance late night meeting with Tim Kelsey at a London Jazz club. NHS England’s director of patients and information inspired Claus with his vision “to use information to re-invent the NHS as a social movement.”

Claus recalls that “there was also a lot of stuff about teaching elephants to paint and filling American potholes online.”

“To be honest, I didn’t really understand it all. But it all sounded terribly clever and by the end of the evening I found I’d agreed to become the director of NHS Ho, Ho, Ho!”

This service will replace NHS Choices and be the core of the new NHS customer experience platform. Claus explained that the role of NHS Ho, Ho Ho! will be to “inspire the imagination and ensure that patients believe in and delight in the health service, whatever doubts they may have.”

Asked whether it will be developed in open source, he said: “It will be whatever the Elves can knock up back in the workshop.”

“It’s all a bit vague and implausible really,” he admitted. “But just because something defies logic or rational explanation doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make a leap of faith.

“Do you know how many chimneys I used to squeeze down? Or how many mince pies and nips of brandy I used to get through every Christmas?”

Asked whether he will also be taking on responsibility for CodeforHealth, the initiative to train 50,000 clinicians to program, he laughs a deep belly laugh and his eyes fill with mirth. “I don’t think so. I might be magic but I’m not a bloomin’ miracle worker.”

Claus says he looks forward to working with his new NHS colleagues and wishes them all “a very Merry Christmas.”

Are you a “rising star” of NHS IT? Or do you know somebody who is? EHI is looking to talk to people who are at a relatively early stage in their careers who are set to shape the healthcare IT and information world of the future.

If you know somebody who should be profiled, who is happy to talk about their working lives, their favourite projects and ambitions, please contact EHI reporter Lis Evenstad.