Need support getting approval to attend? Find our leave request template below.
Dear [NAME OF CHIEF EXEC],
I am writing to request your support for our digital leadership team to attend Digital Health Summer Schools, 16–17 July at the University of Nottingham.
Organised by the Digital Health Networks, the national community of health IT leaders, the event convenes CIOs, CCIOs, CNIOs and their teams convene to share best practice in how to deliver on the ambitions of the 10 Year Health Plan.
The plan sets out to make the NHS the world’s most digitally enabled health system by 2035. This simply is not possible without investing in the people and skills at the heart of this transformation.
There is untapped knowledge within the Networks. Summer Schools provides a unique environment to collaborate with digital leaders to address the most pressing strategic and operational challenges.
How our attendance will support our organisation
National drive to formalise DDaT profession – accreditation available
NHS England recently announced the formalising professionalism for the digital, data, and technology (DDaT) workforce. This is essential for ensuring safe and effective patient care as the NHS shifts from analogue to digital. There will be a dedicated workshop on this at Summer Schools. The event will be CPD accredited.
Engagement with national leaders
Away from the press releases and policy announcements, we will have the opportunity to have honest conversations about the national priorities for digital with confirmed attendees from NHS England Dr Alec Price-Forbes (national CCIO), Helen Balsdon RN (national CNIO) and Wajid Hussain (chief medical information officer).
Developing board-ready digital leadership
Digital leaders are increasingly held accountable for outcomes that sit beyond traditional digital control, such as suppliers, shadow IT, clinical safety, adoption, and board-level decision-making. Learn how to influence boards, peers and system partners without ‘formal power’.
Understanding which innovations to scale
Fatigued by pilots and proofs of concepts, senior leaders want real outcomes that scale clinically, operationally and financially. Decide what to back, stop or decommission, and learn how to effectively evaluate change.
Supporting how we navigate safety and ethics in the AI era
Clinical safety, regulation and ethics are no longer specialist topics – they are board-level concerns, especially with AI deployment accelerating. How do we ensure that governance keeps pace with innovation?
Build effective NHS-supplier relationships
The demands of digital transformation require a much more strategic approach to relationships between the NHS and vendors than before. Learn how to move away from transactional relationships to collaborative partnerships.
How are other trusts delivering on the 10-year health plan, one year on?
NHS leaders such as Salma Yasmeen, chief executive of Sheffield Health Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust will share their emerging learnings on key topics such as digitally enabled neighbourhoods.
Our request
We ask you to support our [INSERT JOB ROLE]’s attendance at Summer Schools, where gained insights will help shape national priorities and resources for the wider NHS.
We request funding of [INSERT TICKET AMOUNT] to attend. Whilst we recognise that resources are scarce, we will share all learnings from the event to benefit everyone working towards a digitally-enabled health service in our organisation. Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely,
[NAME, JOB]
