The room erupted as Mandy Griffin was hailed as the Digital Health Awards Chief Information Officer of the Year 2019.

It's the second big win for CHFT and follows Jackie Murphy's win last year at the same awards.

More than 500 people saw Mandy's award and there was better stuff to come as she's also now Vice Chair for the Chief Information Digital Network.

Mandy, managing director of Health Informatics Servce, said: "I was really overwhelmed actually and really didn't think I'd win. I'm gobsmacked. But when the shortlisted names were announced I got the biggest cheer which shocked me."

The editor and CEO of Digital Health, Jon Hoeksma, announced the winners during a special networking and Summer School awards dinner held at the University of Leeds. He said: "Mandy's having one heck of a summer school".

The awards, now in their second year, aim to recognise and celebrate the achievements of the leaders making the biggest contributions to UK healthcare IT. 

Mandy said being elected as Vice Chair of the Advisory Board was a a real privilege.  She said: "The position is influential, as the network works with all NHS bodies and there are around 3500 members."

The winners were peer-voted by the 3,500 NHS chief information officers, chief clinical information officers and other digital health leaders who make up the Networks panel.

** The next day - the usually very well-turned out Mandy - wore pink socks. They are intended as a conversation-starter and to encourage people in healthcare IT to connect so the patient doesn't “get lost in the technology”.

Pinksocks  is the idea of American Nick Adkins.

He told delegates: “In healthcare there are so many challenges – the technology, the burnout. We deal with a lot of data. Every data point is a person, a story, and sometimes we forget that.

“Listen to the patient story, really see them, and don’t let that get lost in the technology.”