Many of our past participants describe their participation in the DLP as a pivotal point in their career journeys, leading to opportunities in further study and new roles in the digital space owing to their new skills and influence within their organisations.
As Head of BR24 & Assistive Technology Development at Bield Housing & Care I lead the strategic development of BR24’s alarm receiving centre, which monitors over 18,000 vulnerable adults across Scotland. This centre is pivotal in providing timely responses and support, allowing individuals to live independently and safely in their own homes. My focus is on advancing digital telecare and innovative care solutions to enhance the quality of life for our ageing population, taking a digital first approach to unlock new and exciting benefits.
My journey with the DLP began in cohort 16 when I was a Service Manager at Bield Housing and Care. My project explored the digital barriers facing our ageing population and aimed to utilise digital technology to connect vulnerable adults to NHS Inform via personalised messages through our alarm receiving centre. This project, launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, was crucial in empowering and supporting our ageing population to access digital resources to support and empower people to manage their health and well-being.
The DLP was instrumental in building my confidence to lead digital transformation projects, providing me with valuable resources and insights. Completing the course was a springboard that enabled me to move into a senior leadership role within my organisation, where I now focus on integrating digital technologies to drive innovation in telecare, housing, and care services. I am also currently pursuing a master’s degree in Leading Digital Transformation in Health and Care for Scotland, which continues to develop my personal and professional opportunities thanks to the knowledge and confidence gained through the Digital Health and Care Leadership Programme.
I was encouraged to complete the dNMAHP leadership programme in 2018/19 after developing an interest in digital projects whilst working as a midwife in NHS Forth Valley. The course gave me a foundational knowledge of digital in healthcare and it's leadership.
Following this I became more involved in digital initiatives within my post and built on these foundations.
This then led on to securing my current post of Digital Midwife in NHS Fife, within this I have been fortunate enough to gain a place and be supported on the first Leading Digital Transformation in Health and Social Care MSc cohort at University of Edinburgh where I am learning and developing my digital leadership skills and building academic qualifications.
I currently work as an Advanced Practice Dietitian for care homes in NHS GGC. This was a new post created following the pandemic working in a specialist multidisciplinary team. My focus is on food, fluid and nutritional care provision through supporting care home staff with training and working collaboratively to provide improvement through quality improvement projects. There is a huge value in digital training as there are currently over 180 care homes in this health board. Using a mix of digital resources to support this has been invaluable to allow greater access and spread. This includes videos, website resources, webinar training and just recently a food, fluid and nutritional care in care homes app.
I was cohort 15 in DLP in a previous role as a specialist in Diabetes. My project was supporting the development of digital group education for patients with a new diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. With all face-to-face groups halted due to the pandemic, this was a vital bit of work to prevent a gap in patient care. I really value the learning from this course as it gave me the confidence to continue my studies and am now working towards a full MSc in Advanced practice. I have just recently completed my 'recognition of prior learning' module with this course which allowed me to gain credits towards my MSc from the learning in DLP. I was asked to write a reflective essay on my learning alongside presenting my project. This is something I am now encouraging peers to do also as just so valuable in not only professional development but building confidence. I can honestly say that this course has pushed me to go beyond my comfort zone not just in further learning but also in changing posts into more of a leadership role.
I’m a radiographer at NHS Lothian with an interest in both digital and learning and development. Naturally this led me to look at how the two can be combined and during my secondment as AHP Practice Education Lead, I enrolled onto the Digital Health and Care Leadership Programme in Cohort 17. My project was looking at how we can utilise digital tools to deliver student learning. This approach can offer students a very full learning experience whilst reducing pressures on staff who are delivering practice education.
The DLP has taught me a lot, enabled me to realise my project with the support of others, introduced me to Quality Improvement tools and gave me a fuller appreciation of the impact of digital in the delivery of healthcare and how best to utilise it. Since finishing my course I have deepened my involvement with digital. I have gone on to a secondment as AHP Digital Lead within NHS Lothian and become a facilitator on the DLP. I am also a very active advocate of the programme and I would encourage people to consider the DLP as being part of their development plan and apply.