North East Ambulance Service appoints new clinical lead for digital developments that will improve patient care

Georgina will work with both operational staff and the digital teams to support the development of digital technology across NEAS to improve the patient journey.

Georgina, a clinical team leader (CTL) in Alnwick, brings a wealth of clinical expertise and a passion for digital transformation and will support the continuous clinical improvement by using technology to improve patient outcome and patient experience.

The role will support the development of electronic patient records and will also enable utilisation of real-time data that supports improvements in clinical care which will be reflected in developments across the service.

It will also be responsible for understanding the patient journey from the ambulance service to emergency departments or other treatment settings such as urgent treatment centres.

Director of paramedicine, Andrew Hodge said: “This work is pivotal for the future of the ambulance service and this role will allow us to explore the opportunities across patient care and staff experience to

real-time data to help us drive change that is timely and responsible.

“Digital is an important part of the world we live in and it’s exciting to see the way this data can change the way we work and become more responsive to the needs of patients and staff.

“We needed a role that made the link between the digital teams within NEAS and clinical teams on the road to better understand the patient and staff journey.

“With Georgina’s experience and knowledge, we will be able to better understand our systems and patient journey by capturing relevant data to improve the efficiency of our service. Better technology means we can tailor our services for more bespoke patient care and improve the way we work as an ambulance service.

“The clinical team are looking forward to welcoming Georgina in June and that both staff and patients will benefit from her experience of clinical and professional knowledge as the role progresses.”

The digital role will also be responsible for the implementation of the ambulance data set (ADS). ADS is a project that aims to track the patient journey from the initial call to the ambulance service to discharge from hospital to allow healthcare professionals to make better decisions based on data produced. This is a national project ran by NHS England and NHS Digital aimed at improving the patient journey as they move through the healthcare system.

Georgina said: “I am looking forward to working with a range of colleagues across the service to understand and improve the overall patient journey.

“This is a great step into helping automate a lot of systems we use every day as clinical staff and will be instrumental in the future of NEAS as we continue to move into a more digital focused work environment.

“As an ambulance service, we are often the gateway to the NHS so our data is crucial to understanding how and why people access care. I am really looking forward to joining the team and getting stuck into these new projects.”

Georgina is expected to start the new role in June 2025.