Stuart’s experience in large teaching hospitals, district general hospitals, GP practices, community hospitals and a prison enabled him to gain extensive cross sector insights.
What is your area of expertise at ETHOS?
Clinical Safety Officer (CSO). This role requires current registration as a Health Professional, to have completed CSO training and have experience in clinical risk management. I am a practising Physiotherapist registered with the HCPC, I completed CSO training in 2015). I have been working in clinical risk management for 5 years.
It’s a complex area, what is the most common question you get asked?
Do you have a background in IT? I don’t and for me, it’s not all about IT, it’s about making services safer for patients, systems that help and support staff and improving the overall quality of healthcare. It helps to be immersed in technology projects. I’ve been a CSO in the NHS and also Genomics England which was an amazing experience. My 5 years of working on the project have built on 17 years of clinical experience, providing me with both technical and clinical vocabulary and expertise.
Considering the sudden increase in the use of digital during the pandemic, what you be your top tip to companies?
Top of my list would be embedding clinical safety as a priority within an organisation. This requires clear communication, teamwork and a roadmap. Communication has been a key aspect of the pandemic with more people having to work from home. This has been shown to work and is here to stay now. There is a real opportunity for health care companies to embrace new technologies and ways of working which will benefit both employees, patients, and the environment. Ensuring systems and services remain clinically safe whilst embracing these changes, needs to be a priority.
How do they do that with limited resources?
Using expert knowledge and experience to guide and support them will enable companies to quickly achieve digital health Standards, which will enable them to deploy digital systems quickly and cost-effectively.
What else is on the horizon you would flag to customers of ETHOS?
ETHOS is the one-stop-shop for customers who need to ensure their digital health-focused products/services are compliant with internationally recognised standards. It’s not optional and I’m keen to support a high-quality solution for our clients.
Is this reflected across the health and care sector here and abroad?
Definitely having visited HIMMS events in the USA and ‘paperless’ hospitals in Spain. The digital revolution is happening everywhere. The UK need to be at the forefront of the digital health revolution.
If you could give one gift to customers what would it be?
A personalised service to meet companies/organisations needs, ensuring that their service or product meets clinical safety standards to a high level.
