NHSE’s national CCIO and CNIOs confirmed for Rewired 2025

Dr Alec Price-Forbes, national chief clinical information officer (CCIO) and Helen Balsdon, national chief nursing information officer (CNIO) have been announced as keynote speakers for Digital Health Rewired 2025.

The two recently appointed NHS England leaders will share their plans for the next stage of NHS digitisation at the event taking place at the NEC in Birmingham on 18-19 March 2025.

Dr Price-Forbes started his role as national CCIO in October 2024, with a brief which includes galvanising the senior clinical community across various NHS programmes to deliver digital transformation at scale.

He is a consultant rheumatologist, former CCIO for Coventry and Warwickshire’s sustainability and transformation partnership and currently the clinical chair of Digital Health’s integrated care system (ICS) Digital Council.

Helen Balsdon became national CNIO after having taken the interim post in 2023, following the departure of Natasha Phillips.

The former Cambridge University Hospitals CNIO has been a member of Digital Health Networks since 2017, elected to its Advisory Panel and supported the next generation of CNIOs as a Networks mentor.

Balsdon will discuss how to support the NHS’ 500,000 nursing workforce with digital tools and data to deliver improvements in patient care.

The new national CCIO and CNIO join a range of recently announced speakers at Rewired 2025.

Phil Wood, chief executive at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, will talk about the continuing need for strong local digital capabilities to meet the evolving challenged of health and care across complex patient journeys.

Dr Joe Zhang, head of data science at the London AI Centre and Secure Data Environment will also speak at the event, as well as Ming Tang, chief data and analytics officer at NHSE, who will talk about the next steps for her team in developing data and analytics capabilities.

Mike Bracken, founding partner of Public Digital, returns to Rewired having previously told attendees at the 2024 event that the UK should embrace public-interest technology and stop depending on big IT to become a global leader in digital health service provision.

It has also been announced that Digital Health and the Equity Charter are joining forces to tackle racism, with the charter’s founders set to formally launch 10 principles to combat discrimination in the sector at Rewired 2025.

The event, which is co-headline sponsored by The Access Group, will feature NHS leaders joined by healthcare providers and planners, researchers, and academics, established industry leaders, suppliers and promising start-ups.

Rewired 2025 is free for those in the NHS and public sector. Private sector tickets from: £495 +VAT. Register now and book your accommodation early to secure discounted rates.

Register here.