Heartbeat: In the spotlight – Martin Sadler, Chief Informatics Officer
November 26, 2018
In the spotlight this month is our new Chief Informatics Officer, Martin Sadler. Martin joined us in September and is leading on the work to repair and develop our IT infrastructure. He took some time out to answer some of our questions.
HB: So how are you settling in?
MS: Very well thanks. I have enjoyed meeting people. If you do see me out and about please stop me to say hello. I want to hear your experiences of IT as I really want to help resolve them for you and understand what your frustrations are. I have been building my knowledge on the organisation by visiting colleagues in their places of work to help me understand their business. And I have had the opportunity to observe a heart operation!
HB: Why Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals?
MS: It’s simple – I have lived in the area for many years, I like public service and making IT services work better is really fun.
HB: What is your background in informatics?
MS: I was IT director at Walsall Council for eight years. I have also worked for numerous organisations in both the private and public sector. I know what a good IT experience should look like – every single one of us coming into work every day and having access to IT that works when we need it. This is what I am aiming for in this organisation.
HB: IT performance is high up on the list of frustrations for colleagues in our workplace. How does this fit in with your priorities over the next few months?
MS: Toby, our chief executive has stated that IT is the organisation’s number one safety priority. And as a team are we are aware of the impact on colleague’s working lives when IT is not working. Unfortunately the infrastructure is not fit for purpose and work is underway to resolve that.
Although it will take time for colleagues to start seeing improvements, those improvements will come. By the time this article is published the work to upgrade the IT infrastructure will have started. This will include ensuring Wi-Fi works across all our sites including Rowley and Leasowes where there has been particularly poor coverage.
While the work to upgrade the infrastructure is a big project, the team is also focussed on the everyday issues that get in the way of you doing your job. We want to build a picture of what these issues are so please give us your feedback. Remember to log queries through the helpdesk either via Connect or by calling ext 4050.
My key priorities are ensuring stable, working and suitable IT for colleagues. My ultimate aim is to make the IT department the best in the Midlands to match our 2020 vision. A big job!
HB: As work gets underway to fix the IT are we to expect any planned outages?
MS: The recent major outage provided the opportunity to review our processes and resilience. We learned much from it as we are now putting place measures to reduce the likelihood of something like that happening again. IT issues will happen, however my aim is to get them resolved as quickly as possible.
We will be rolling out a programme of planned outages many of which will be out of hours or over a weekend. We will ensure colleagues and teams affected receive as much notice as possible.
HB: What are your plans for your team?
MS: We have a great IT team here and I am enjoying working with them to improve our service as well as ensuring each team member continues to develop and have the skills and abilities to help make this IT department the best in the Midlands.