The Northern, Yorkshire and Humberside Digital Informatics Forum (NYHDIF) held its annual conference in Harrogate on 14th & 15th November 2024. Attended by digital, data and technology leaders within NHS organisations from across the North-East, East Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside regions, the theme of focus at this year’s networking and learning event was ‘Efficiency and Productivity – Old Challenges, New Solutions?!’.

As longstanding members of the forum, digital leaders from Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust’s Digital and Interweave teams attended the conference to meet with their peers and learn from others’ experiences within the current landscape.

The event attracted several key speakers from the broader digital space, including sponsorship and keynotes from local suppliers. The audience also enjoyed segments from motivational speaker, Helen Butters, and the British Sign Language Choir.

On the first day, attendees were welcomed to the Cedar Court Hotel by NYHDIF Chair & Director of Health Informatics at Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, James Rawlinson. The audience then settled into the jam-packed agenda for the day, starting with a keynote from John Quinn, Chief Information Officer at NHS England.

John spoke to attendees about the challenges facing digital teams in the NHS right now, but why he believes we should remain optimistic due to the brilliant people involved and the ways in which digital can revolutionise care. His messages around One Digital, increased take-up of the NHS App, and our role in the future of digital health felt poignant following the NHS Providers Conference one day prior. Where the introduction of emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), were noted as showing real benefits in healthcare, such as freeing up staff time and speeding up care for the patient.

Next, we heard from Peter Bath, Professor of Health Informatics at the University of Sheffield, who spoke about important work using AI and Natural Language Processing in healthcare projects, including a local Covid-19 study with Yorkshire Ambulance Service. And ReStart, who spoke about the possibilities when using their IMX platform.

Day one also brought keynotes from Helen Butters, motivational speaker from ‘Four Mums in a Boat’, who reminded us all of the importance of resilience and perseverance in the journey to success, Jon Hoeksma, CEO at Digital Health Intelligence who spoke about the bigger picture and benefits, and finally, Robert Hickingbotham and Paul Cook from local supplier, Synanetics.

As everyone enthusiastically re-joined the group for day two, we heard from keynote speaker Amy Freeman, CDIO at University Hospitals of the North Midlands who really brought the theme of the week to life, talking through what efficiency and productivity looks like at a local level, and how, by working together and joining up our efforts, we have the potential to make a real difference.

The final keynotes of the conference came from Geoff Broome and Ian Shaw from supplier, Apira, Dr Nicholas Spencer, Consultant Radiiologist and CCIO at Agfa Healthcare and Dr Marc Farr, Chief Analytical Officer at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.

As with previous years, NYHDIF will upload this year’s presentation slides on their website. You can check the site here for updates.

A brilliant end to the conference was enjoyed with a group photograph to mark the event and a performance from the British Sign Language Choir. We express sincere gratitude to this year’s keynote speakers and special guests, you really made the days something to remember.

When asked about his thoughts, Ian Clucas, Deputy CIO at Interweave, said:

“As always, it was a great conference and what I found interesting to hear was the One Digital aspirations of NHS England. Particularly when John Quinn spoke about the sharing of best of breed innovations rather than re-building what already exists elsewhere in the system. I’m looking forward to seeing these aspirations realised in policy decisions and the all-important operational reality.”

Thank you to everyone who attended this year’s event with us, it was great to see so many of you there, both new and familiar faces alike. We would also like to send a special thanks to Janet Howden, NYHDIF colleague, who played a key role in the event organisation, which we know will have been no easy job. And to this year’s event sponsors: Synanetics, ReStart, Altera Digital Health, Apira, IQVIA, Daisy, Phoenixs, Cisco, Channel3, and N3i…without whom we could not continue to enjoy these valuable events.
Thank you and we look forward to doing it all again next year!