Top US doctor who led expert panel on Scotland’s digital health strategy to speak at FutureScot conference in November

A top US doctor who led the expert panel informing the development of the Scottish Government’s national digital health and care strategy will speak at a FutureScot conference in November.

Dr. David W Bates, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, led an international panel of experts who advised on ‘Scotland’s Digital Health & Care Strategy’ before it was published in April.

Dr Bates is an internationally renowned expert in patient safety, using information technology to improve care, quality-of-care, cost-effectiveness, and outcomes assessment in medical practice.

He has published over 700 peer-reviewed papers which have been cited over 100,000 times; he has an ‘h-index’ of 147, which ranks him among the 400 most-cited biomedical researchers of any type.

Speaking ahead of his appearance at Digital Health & Care – leadership, skills & building Scotland’s workforce capability, he said: “I was honoured to serve as Chair of the Expert Panel which was convened by Scottish Government to help develop the national strategy. It was a valuable and unique experience through which I gained many insights. At the upcoming event, I look forward to sharing share some of the insights gained from my work on the Expert Panel.”

Dr Bates’s keynote will cover the work that went into the national strategy but also one of his primary interests – that of ‘mainstreaming digital technology and data science in health and social care’.

He has also been a strong advocate of putting citizens in control of their own health data, through the creation of electronic health records (EHRs); part of the new national strategy will see a National Digital Platform created with that objective in mind.

Dr. Bates will be joined by two other international keynotes at the event at the Technology Innovation Centre in Glasgow on Tuesday, November 27th.

Dr Ceri Thompson, Head of Policy, eHealth, Wellbeing & Ageing at The European Commission, will talk about the harmonisation of health data across EU Member States in light of the creation of a Digital Single Market.

And Peder Jest, Executive Director of Odense University Hospital in Southern Denmark, will talk about his country’s ‘digital first’ approach, which has seen recently the establishment of the world’s first eHealth ‘test city’ in Svendborg.

There will be a strong focus on leadership and skills at the event, which reflects one of the key ‘domains’ of the national strategy; Caroline Lamb, Chief Executive of NHS Education for Scotland, will outline how her organisation has been tasked with ensuring the healthcare workforce are equipped with the right skills to deliver digital services. Stephen Hart, a former Royal Marine Commando who is now Managing Director of the NHS Leadership Academy, will drill down on issues relating to training up tomorrow’s leaders who will take ownership and deliver upon the strategy’s objectives.

The event will be held as part of a number of conferences and meetings hosted during the Scottish Digital Health & Care Week, 26-30 November. It will be the second FutureScot policy and technology conference on digital health this year following the Digital Leaders’ Summit in April.

For further information and registration please visit the FutureScot event page here.