Clinical information – the bridge between operational and digital healthcare

Ramandeep Kaur did not plan a career in digital health. In 2014, newly arrived at Leicester Royal Infirmary as a locum pharmacist, she spotted a job advertisement related to electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA). She applied for the job and set in motion a career that would take her to one of the most senior digital leadership roles in NHS England.

Today, Ms Kaur is the interim Group Chief Information Officer (CXIO) for University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) and University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN), which includes both Kettering General Hospital and Northampton General Hospital. It is a role that places her at the intersection of clinical practice and digital innovation — and one that, she is quick to point out, is built on her identity as a pharmacist. “I absolutely love technology and thoroughly enjoy working in the NHS”, she says.

The bridge between clinical and digital

As Group CXIO, Ms Kaur is responsible for the allied health professions, pharmacy and healthcare scientists from a digital clinical perspective. In practical terms, this means acting as a bridge between frontline clinical colleagues and the organisations’ digital and data teams — ensuring that the technology serving staff and patients is fit for purpose, safe and continuously improving.

Her portfolio also includes digital risk management and oversight of the user experience for colleagues across UHL and UHN. One of her most significant recent projects has been leading the go-live of Nerve Centre, an electronic patient record system, at Northampton General Hospital — a complex transition from both paper-based and legacy digital systems. The implementation drew on learning accumulated across the East Midlands acute provider network, where Nerve Centre is already in use, and was informed by a newly established digital patient reference group, which gives patients across Leicester and Northamptonshire a direct voice in shaping digital services.

Clinical safety at the core

Running through everything Ms Kaur does is a commitment to clinical safety. She sees it as inseparable from digital transformation: the shift to electronic systems introduces new risks even as it eliminates old ones and managing those risks rigorously is central to her role.

A message for the next generation

Ms Kaur’s advice for pharmacists considering a move into clinical informatics is direct. First, find a mentor — and recognise that different mentors may be needed change as careers develop. Second, find your professional community. “Find your tribe, find the people within the space within the field that you want to go into … the people that are going to support you”, she advises.  Above all, be your own champion: “Nobody else is going to do that for you”, she adds.

Her own journey has been recognised with the Chief Clinical Information Officer of the Year award at the 2024 Digital Health Networks awards, a HSJ Digital Awards finalist placing, and inclusion in the Top 100 Digital Leaders list in 2025. She attributes a large part of her success to the support of her colleagues. “A lot of this is down to the teams I’ve been so lucky to have worked with,” she reflects. For pharmacists with an interest in digital health, her career is proof that the digital world offers both opportunity and impact. “There are lots of opportunities within this space”, she says.

 

About Ramandeep Kaur

Ramandeep Kaur is currently the interim CXIO  at University Hospitals of Northamptonshire and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. She won Digital Health Networks Award CCIO of the Year in 2024 and was shortlisted for HSJ Digital Leader of the Year in 2025. She was listed in the Top 100 digital transformation leaders by Distilled Post in November 2025.  She has completed the Digital Health London Pioneer Fellowship Programme, is an alumna of  the NHS Digital Health Leadership Academy and has a Masters in Leadership and Innovation.  She is proud to be co-vice chair of the CCIO Digital Health Network Advisory Panel, a member of the BCS, RPS, Shuri Network & UKCPA.