Hello, my name is Allison Deagle and I am the Matron for Digital Health at the Newcastle Hospitals.
I joined the Digital Health team in February 2021 and see the key focus of my role as engaging with staff from both acute hospital and community settings, supporting them to embrace the implementation of new technologies that will improve and enhance both direct and indirect patient care.
This includes providing a safe environment for staff to speak up with their own ideas and to give them the necessary tools to take these forward.
By acting as a bridge between the clinical teams and our IT colleagues we can support the Trust’s Digital Strategy and make sure all our NMAHPs have a voice when it comes to the digital technology they use.
My journey into digital health
I started my nurse training at 18 years old and have never regretted my decision. After having worked for a number of years in a range of acute areas I took up a post in a GP practice where I trained as a Nurse Practitioner before returning to the Newcastle Hospitals in the same role working for the Walk in Centres. It was from here that I gained my Matron post specialising in Urgent and Primary Care.
With the onset of the COVID pandemic, our Community Teams found themselves having to rapidly evolve their ways of working to meet the challenges faced, many of which introduced digitally innovative approaches.
Whilst challenging, I really enjoyed being involved in these developments and with reflection felt that a role focusing more on Digital Health would push me further out of my comfort zone and offer opportunities to support colleagues and services in a different way.
I was not wrong – this role has been everything I could have wished for. I work with a fantastic team who have only been established for a short while but who have exciting, diverse plans to guide and support all our services trust-wide.
The team is going from strength to strength and following our ‘Paperlite’ transformation in October 2019 we continue to optimise current workflows as well as developing exciting new projects.
Contact us
If you have any burning issues or would like to get involved in our work we want to hear from you.
Email our Digital Health Team
