Tag: Telefonica

Groundbreaking health IT project wins top honours at NI’s leading IT awards

The winners of the 2024 Belfast Telegraph IT Awards, in partnership with Telefónica Tech UK & Ireland, were announced on Friday evening at a prestigious ceremony held at the MAC Theatre in Belfast. Hosted by comedian Andrew Ryan, the event celebrated excellence in the Northern Ireland IT sector, with awards presented across 19 categories.

The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust was a standout winner, taking home three major awards. The trust was recognised for its successful implementation of Encompass, a digital health records system for citizens in Northern Ireland. The project earned the title of Best Public Sector or Third Sector IT Project, as well as one of the biggest awards of the night, the Overall IT Team or Company of the Year Award.

Noel Brady, founder of consultancy firm NB1 Ltd, was honoured with the most prestigious award of the night, Outstanding Contribution Award, as the company celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. Mr Brady, a respected figure in the IT sector in Northern Ireland, has spent his career advising companies on public sector tendering, sales and marketing, and holding leadership roles in both private and public sector organizations.

“I am deeply honored to receive this recognition,” said Mr Brady. “As a Belfast man, I am totally committed to growing the economy and creating employment opportunities for the next generation of talent in our city.”

Other notable winners included Allstate, Expleo, Options Technology, Mantle Services, and Covernet, among others. The 2024 awards saw a record number of entries, with a panel of esteemed judges from Northern Ireland’s IT industry, chaired by Peter Russell, Managing Director of PR Business Growth Services, narrowing down the finalists. 

Mark Gorton, CEO at Telefónica Tech UK&I, said: “Telefónica Tech were incredibly honoured to once again sponsor the Belfast Telegraph IT Awards. These awards highlight the outstanding talent, innovation and dedication driving the ever-evolving tech sector forward in Northern Ireland. It was incredible to join together with other leaders in the IT industry in Northern Ireland on the night. I want to send a congratulations to all of this year’s winners and nominees on their achievements.”

Peter Russell, chair of the judging panel said: “It was an honour to chair the judging panel for the 2024 Belfast Telegraph IT Awards in partnership with Telefónica Tech. Selecting this year’s winners was no easy task, especially as we had so many worthy and compelling entries. Thanks must go to my fellow judges who gave up their time and expertise so willingly and made the whole process a very enjoyable one. Congratulations to all of the deserving winners and thanks to everyone who made these awards a success.”

The full list of winners and finalists for the Belfast Telegraph IT Awards 2024 can be found on the event’s official website.

Telefónica Tech supports encompass in the roll-out of digital patient records for the UK’s largest trust

Telefónica Tech UK&I has reached a significant milestone in its delivery of a five-year IT managed services contract to support encompass, the health and social care programme that is creating a single digital care record for every citizen who receives health and social care in Northern Ireland.

Belfast Trust, the largest of its kind in the UK, went live this month, replacing paper processes with the new digital patient record system. It follows the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, which was the first Trust to Go-Live under the contract in November 2023, with encompass then rolling out across all Trusts in Northern Ireland over a two-year period.

Telefónica Tech, which employs 330 people in Belfast and has created 20 highly skilled and technically accredited locally-based jobs to support the work, is providing the specialist IT hosting and managed services strategic expertise required to underpin encompass.

This involved building and managing all of the back-end IT infrastructure, including for the hosting and deployment of Epic, the market-leading health record management software, and then supporting the roll-out to all Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland.

Ellen Dickson, VP, Enterprise Health Services at Telefónica Tech UK&I, said: “encompass is a transformational project from an operational and medical point of view, making Northern Ireland the first part of the UK where patients have a single integrated care record. It is a highly complex project and critical to the health and wellbeing of service users in Northern Ireland. It will require the highest levels of service to support the approximately 70,000 staff members who will use the system once it is implemented across all the Trusts. We are very proud to contribute to its implementation in the South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust, and most recently in the Belfast Health & Social Care Trust, the largest Trust of its kind in the UK.”

Dr. Dermot Hughes, the Senior Responsible Owner for the encompass programme, recognised the significant contributions of Telefónica Tech to the successful Go-Live at South Eastern and Belfast Trust: “Telefónica Tech have contributed significantly to the successful implementation of the Epic Platform in Northern Ireland. Their dedicated Healthcare focused team have brought experience and a collegiate partnership to the encompass programme. They have grown their Belfast based workforce and have done so by opening opportunities to all.”

Belfast-based Telefónica Tech UK&I has a dedicated team for enterprise health services and provides IT managed services to major health trusts across the UK and Ireland, including Cambridge University Hospitals Trust.