Industry co-chair of IHE-England talks standards

The industry co-chair of IHE-England has said it is his “personal mission” to help raise the profile of the standards.

Robin Breslin said that IHE standards had “become less active in the UK”.

He added: “I am making it my personal mission to pick it [IHE] up by the coattails.”

IHE is an initiative by healthcare professionals which promotes the use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 in order to have systems which can communicate with one another better, are easier to implement, and enable care providers to use information more effectively.

When asked why now to raise the profile of IHE standards, Breslin agreed that there was a change in the air, adding that he believes IHE can “solve some real problems” in healthcare IT as people start to looks towards interoperability.

This includes a number of tech giants such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon making a commitment to supporting interoperability in healthcare.

Breslin spoke to Digital Health News ahead of an event the organisation is hosting on 16 October.

‘Interoperability in Practice in the UK’ includes speakers such as Ian Townend, lead architect at NHSX and Luke Redman, senior responsible officer at One London.

When asked what he hopes attendees will gain from the event, Breslin said he wanted people to be “open-minded” about IHE.

“I want people to come away and say ‘I never knew that about IHE’,” he added.

The event in London is aimed at those who are starting out on the interoperability journey and those who have been on it for some time.

It is open to individuals or companies involved in procurement or implementation.