The London Big SIG (face to face) is back
In July, the London Regional ESR team were pleased to hold the first face-to-face Big SIG since before the pandemic of 2020. We have since followed this up with our second Big SIG on the 4th December.
The rooms were generously supplied by Croydon Health Services NHS Trust and University Central London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Being at Croydon for our first SIG since the pandemic, they went above and beyond in their provision of refreshments in the form of cakes and pastries – a bonus you just don’t get with MS Teams!
Meeting face to face at both events presented excellent opportunities for networking and knowledge-sharing. Across the two separate events we had a range of presenters which led to engaging debate and knowledge sharing.
During the events we have welcomed:
- Will Pank - The Deputy Director National Consultant Information Programme (NHSE)
- Pawel Tamberg - Head of People Services Transformation (NHSE) and Ally Arnall - Deloitte MCS Limited
- Charlotte Cheal and Alice Higgins – NHSBSA Workforce Optimisation Team
- Keith Whitburn - London Regional Engagement Lead (NHSBSA Future Workforce Solution Programme)
- Ben Davies - IBM Client Relationship Manager
Additionally, there were focussed sessions on Multi-Factor Authentication, the recently deployed Leavers Dashboard and on Data Quality reporting, all of which gave plenty of scope for discussion, as well as peer-to-peer discussion and support about various areas of ESR functionality, how ESR is being used day-to-day and the ESR projects that are in progress.
Both events were well attended with 16 attendees representing 9 different organisations in Croydon and 36 attendees representing 21 organisations at UCLH. All the attendees were engaged and enthusiastic – as one said: “It has been really good to meet NHS colleagues and share experiences and challenges”.
We are looking forward to welcoming more members of the London ESR community to our next SIG in March 2025 (tbc) and as one attendee succinctly summed up: “Face-to-Face is Fab!”.