The chief clinical information officer at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust describes himself as a ‘digital socialist’. He tells Lyn Whitfield about the trust’s pioneering deployment of the Lorenzo electronic patient record, and why he is proud of the system and the role that the trust, its clinicians and its IT team have played in its development over the past decade.
He also outlines the healthcare economy’s ongoing digital ambitions and puts forward a strong argument for why every area should be able to access the resources it needs to reshape care for the 21st century.
Colin Brown describes himself as a “digital socialist.” The chief clinical information officer at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust argues that it has done some pioneering health tech work.
Yet it has done it without the kind of resources lavished on ‘devoManc’ or the local health and care record exemplars; and it still has a long way to go to address the needs of an area with significant social problems and an imminent workforce crisis.
“I was asked by one of our local councillors recently what we needed to get more done, and I said it all comes down to people, money, and time,” Brown says at one point in a wide-ranging interview.
“We have some great people, but I would love to see Lancashire and Cumbria resourced properly. I do feel like a digital socialist. I think all communities and all clinicians should have the same digital resources to work with.”
You can read the full interview with our very own #MagicMorecambeBay CCIO Colin here
You can watch the full MagicMorecambeBay Healthchat here - it really does make for riveting viewing.