Digital Health Awards 2018: Winners revealed

The winners of the Digital Health Awards 2018 have been revealed at the annual Summer Schools event in Birmingham.

The results for the much-awaited Digital Health Awards were announced by Jon Hoeksma, editor and CEO of Digital Health, at the Summer Schools networking dinner earlier this evening.

The only peer-voted healthcare IT awards saw a big turnout from the members of the Networks, who voted online for their favourite candidates.

In what was one of the most keenly-contested categories, the CCIO of the Year was awarded to Dr Mark Westwood, chief clinical information officer at North Tyneside CCG and primary care lead for Great North Care Record.

The judges had praised him as an excellent primary care CCIO who had done “great work” on Great North Care Record. And the members of the Networks seemed to agree.

Phillipa Winter, chief information officer at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, was declared as the CIO of the Year, after getting the maximum number of votes. The judges lauded her smooth transition from CCIO to CIO, describing her as someone “who has no ego and is liked by all.”

Speaking to Digital Health News after wining her award, Winters said: “What can I say? It’s a privilege. I never thought I’d be able to make such a difference .”

The CNIO of the Year award went to Jackie Murphy, interim chief nurse at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust. She was recognised for her “exemplary” work around digital transformation and managing EPR implementations of two trusts simultaneously.

The Outstanding Contribution to the Profession award went to Andy Kinnear, director of digital transformation at NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit, who won the most number of votes for “his role in professionalisation of healthcare informatics.”

On winning the award, Kinnear said: “It’s thrilling, frankly. It’s a real honour to have been recognised by your peers.

Former NHS Digital chief nurse Anne Cooper and Iain Buchan, director of healthcare research at Microsoft, were also nominated for the award.

“Ian and Anne are two of my heroes and to have been put in the same category as them is an honour,” said Kinnear.

The judges had shortlisted three candidates in these four categories, and had selected winners for Future Digital Leader and Team of the Year.

Over 90 nominations across six categories were reviewed by our expert judging panel on 12 June at the BCS Health and Care offices in central London.

Ella Worsdale, head of information at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, was chosen as the Future Digital Leader. She was hailed as an “excellent role model” who was trying to bring about a culture change for good.

Meanwhile Samrina Bhatti, specialist ePrescribing pharmacist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, was highly commended for being a “driving force” whose confidence and enthusiasm would take her far.

And finally, the Team of the Year was awarded to Scottish National Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals Digital Network for its “great impact.”

Mark Fleming, Scottish Government eHealth clinical lead, and Dr Lesley Holdsworth, Scottish Government clinical lead for digital health and care collected the award for leading and nurturing this network, which has grown from 13 to over 760 participants in the last four years.

They said: “We’re here representing all the people on the team, and what we’re all doing in Scotland is wonderful.”

The transformation team from Mid Essex clinical commissioning group were highly commended for their innovative use of social media to increase referrals to community health mental health support service.

Digital Health would like to thank all of our Award sponsors: BCS, CareWorks, Capgemini, CA Technologies, Nervecentre, OutSystems, and Socitm