Only Connect at HETT North - With Angela Maragna

Angela Maragna is a former NHS digital leader, co-director of One Health Tech, and a member of the HETT Steering Committee

Here, she shares her excitement about HETT North in Manchester and tells visitors about the many agenda sessions, features, and networking opportunities they can expect.

Angela Maragna didn’t begin her career in the NHS. In fact, she started out in merchant banking and ran a homeless charity in South London before she joined the Care Quality Commission.

Since then, however, she worked for the NHS for 20 years, holding senior roles at NHS Digital and NHS England, before leaving to pursue a freelance consulting and communications career.

For the past eight years, she has also helped to steer her “passion” One Health Tech, a buzzing, grassroots, volunteer-powered movement that promotes and supports women and other under-represented groups in health innovation.

“Eight or ten years ago, I got a secondment from NHS Digital to One Health Tech. It was only for six months, but I stayed and now I’m co-director,” she says. “It’s my passion, because it’s all about being a place for conversations that spark collaboration, turn ideas into action, and bring communities alive.”

Shaping the health tech agenda

The desire to create connections also led Angela to HETT, which is getting ready to hold the HETT North conference and exhibition in Manchester at the end of February.

“One Health Tech prides itself on being super-friendly and informal. It’s ‘leave your badge at the door’, whoever you are, and get involved – and that’s the vibe I want for HETT,” she says. Angela also works with the other advisory committee members to shape the HETT agenda.

This year, HETT North will take place just seven months after the general election, and as the government gets ready to finalise the 10 Year Health Plan that will enact its three shifts from hospital to community, treatment to prevention, and analogue to digital.

A minister will deliver a ‘special address’ at the start of the day to set the scene, after which there will be a panel debate on how to deliver ‘innovation without borders’ and build ‘a scalable, financially supported, and modern NHS’.

Artificial intelligence, cyber security, and technology to support everything from productivity to prevention and mental health to women’s health are also on the agenda. And Angela says the committee wanted to find novel and northern takes on these subjects.

“HETT North is such a great opportunity for people who are not based in London or the South to get together and discuss the big issues facing the industry,” she says. “Manchester is very accessible, so it’s a great opportunity to learn about what is going on and what other people are doing: to make those meaningful connections.”

Big opportunities for NHS staff – and patients

In her last role at NHS England, Angela was head of improving people practices. She led teams exploring how to implement flexible working across the NHS and enable staff to move freely from one job to another.

So, for her, another exciting aspect of HETT North is its focus on workforce and on how technology can help organisations to work smarter and safer. “There are so many worrying statistics,” Angela says. “The NHS is short of 100,000 secondary care staff, while there are more than 160,000 vacant posts in social care.

“The NHS staff survey suggests one in five staff want to leave within the next year – and one in six want to leave as soon as possible. We need to address that, by using digital to improve working lives.”

For this to happen, she adds, staff need to be involved in design and implementation, because systems that don’t integrate, or require multiple clicks to carry out basic tasks, can make working lives worse. “I spent a lot of time in hospital last year because my dad was ill, and it was eye opening,” she says.

“People were still doing observations on napkins. Patients had to repeat their medical history every time they moved wards, or missed tests and appointments because the details didn’t follow them.

“I hesitate to say the NHS is broken because the people in it do such amazing work, but the opportunities to make it better are huge and we need to get everybody involved in realising them.”

Addressing the equality agenda

As the NHS moves from analogue to digital, it will be particularly important to make sure it does not worsen health and digital inequalities. Angela and other leaders from One Health Tech will be holding a workshop session on ‘championing equity in digital health leadership’ to address this.

“We want to create a conversation about whether we are really tackling equity and inequality,” she says. “We are going to put out a survey to ask people ahead of HETT North about the key issues in their organisations and lessons that others can learn from.

“Then, we’ll have a workshop at the show, which we’ll write up as a blog for people who can’t attend.” The workshop is one of a number of innovative features at HETT North that are being run to add learning and networking opportunities for visitors.

Other features include a breakout session on ‘bridging the knowledge gap’ or new learning approaches in digital health, a round table on ‘AI for good?’ and events showcasing the Federation for Informatics Professionals and the Health Innovation Networks.

HETT North will also host an exhibition for up to 50 innovative health tech companies, with an ‘innovative trail’ to enable visitors to take a curated journey around the stands that will align precisely with their goals. And it will close with a networking drinks reception, where visitors can unwind and – once again – connect.

Take a buddy, find a friend – make connections

“I would really encourage people to go to HETT North,” Angela concludes. “I am an enthusiastic conference goer, but I know there are people who might not be so confident about going to a big event like this. What I’d say is that there are plenty of opportunities to go as an observer and take in the sessions.

“Or you can take a buddy. Or just chat to someone in the coffee queue and link up with them. It’s such a great opportunity to learn about what other people are doing, what works and what doesn’t, and what suppliers have to offer. I can’t wait to recharge by feeling the buzz about the industry we’re all involved in.”