Graduating from University College Dublin in 1996, I started my career as a rotational physiotherapist in the UK and soon specialised in musculoskeletal health, writes digital leader Linda Vernon.
'Moving around the country - in various roles while undertaking lots of clinical CPD, then gaining an MSc neuro-musculoskeletal health from Keele University - I became an extended scope practitioner in 2004 and took on responsibilities in both the ESP interest group and NW branch of the CSP. I presented at many conferences and events in a clinical capacity, while gaining people and service leadership skills on the job and via training and mentorship.
![Linda Vernon](/sites/default/files/styles/content_aligned/public/media-image/2021-01/linda_vernon.jpg?itok=xyL5bf5t)
My real interest in digital started while on maternity leave with my eldest child in 2010, though I’d been passionate about the power of data as a complement to storytelling in demonstrating the impact we have as clinicians, and had even been known as the ‘Excel queen’ for a number of years by my peers! I started using Twitter to connect with leaders in the digital health and care space, and I contemplated why we had such a powerful tool in our pockets and our personal lives but were technologically so far behind in the workplace.
I was then fortunate enough to receive a funded place on a PgCert Digital Health at Cumbria University, which also afforded me the chance to conduct a place-based work project, implementing an app to support patients to engage with their exercise programme.
I soon took a position as a digital leader in Lancashire & South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS), leading work in digital personalised care, particularly digital social prescribing, supported self-management and digital inclusion.
I am now interim digital culture and transformation clinical lead for the ICS and have been fortunate enough to be asked to present nationally at many events on my areas of expertise.
I firmly believe that digital is merely an enabler to empower people, whether that’s the public and patients we serve or our frontline workforce. People and co-production are therefore at the heart of my values, and my most used skills are not technical, but facilitative - winning the hearts and minds of people, joining dots and seizing opportunities for collaboration.'
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