Our Digital Champion winners were Julian Chadha, Richard Hill, and the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Innovation Team.

They received multiple nominations for their significant impact in transforming time consuming manual processes into digital. The RPA programme has reached many departments across CHFT, and released time back for direct patient care. The team manages automated processes that, when combined, deliver 32,000 hours of activity each year.

Julian began by sharing his thanks to our former Director of Finance, Gary Boothby, who sadly died in February, but who had been behind the project from the very start.

He added: "With every project, you have to have that bit of expertise and team work. We have lots of experience at the Trust and know how to get the best out of our teams. We're here to support our clinical colleagues - the true heroes of our Trust. The work we do means we can give them a bit of time back to invest into patient care."

Here's a little more from their multiple nominations:

Tasks that once relied on multiple forms, long email chains, and a lot of patience, now work smoothly and efficiently often without people realising just how much effort used to sit behind them. They have led and supported digital changes that use technology and data to save time, reduce errors, and make day‑to‑day work easier for everyone involved. What previously took hours can now be completed in minutes, improving productivity and removing unnecessary stress.

Automations have been delivered across 44 processes, including referral management, appointment booking, waiting list validation, cancer tracking, data quality updates, patient flagging, requesting and sending blood forms, adding cancer MDT outcome documents, and sending GP endoscopy reports, among many others.

Congratulations to our other finalists: Information Analyst Abigail Cunningham, the Change Team, EPR Developer Jason Parker and Operations Manager for Medicine Dennie Sebastian.