Health and Social Care Council

Liz Ashall-Payne is an accomplished healthcare leader and the Founding CEO of ORCHA, a global leader in digital health accreditation and distribution services. With a background as a trained NHS Clinician, Liz has been at the forefront of healthcare transformation programs in the NHS, Europe, and North America, leveraging the potential of digital technology to enhance patient health outcomes and drive economic opportunities. In 2015, Liz established ORCHA, a groundbreaking venture that garnered investments from influential figures like Sir Terry Leahy and Bill Currie. Under Liz's guidance, ORCHA has experienced remarkable growth, expanding its digital health assessment and distribution services to twelve countries worldwide. Within the UK, ORCHA serves organizations in 70% of NHS regions, positioning itself as a trusted partner in the digital health landscape. Recognized for her exceptional contributions, Liz Ashall-Payne and ORCHA have received numerous accolades. Liz herself has been honored as a Tech Trailblazer by the BIMA 100, acknowledged as a Healthcare IT Leader in the HIMSS Future 50, and named Entrepreneur of the Year by prestigious institutions such as the British Chamber of Commerce, Norther Powerhouse, and EY. Additionally, she has been featured within the LDC top 50, further highlighting her influential role in the healthcare and technology sectors. In addition to her accomplishments at ORCHA, Liz Ashall-Payne is an NHS England NIA alumni fellow, demonstrating her commitment to advancing innovation in healthcare. She actively contributes to the development of future healthcare leaders as a coach for the NHS England Clinical Entrepreneur program. Furthermore, Liz serves as the Vice Chair on the techUK Health and Social Care Council, where she helps shape policies and initiatives in the intersection of technology and healthcare.

Nigel is the Digital Health & Life Sciences Consulting Director at ARCA Resourcing. ARCA is a management consultancy firm that is driving innovation in the Healthcare, Life Sciences and Engineering Industries by providing professional resources & consulting services. Nigel was previously the Head of Digital Health for Bayer UK and has spent over 20 years leading digital transformation across the NHS. He is the current chair of the Life Sciences Working Group and member of the Health & Social Care Council for techUK.

Fiona is Director at Mayden, the company behind iaptus, the market leading electronic health record (EHR) system which is used by over 100 NHS organisations organisations, covering over two-thirds of adult NHS Talking Therapy services. Fiona leads on the iaptus product development, features and partnerships. She holds a first class degree in Applied Computing and is in her final year of a part-time Masters in Healthcare Data at Cambridge University. As a BCS Fellow, Chartered IT Professional, CHCIO and FEDIP Leading Practitioner she is a leader in the health informatics profession and a product specialist. Shortlisted for Innovator of the Year in 2017, Fiona is a passionate advocate for what technology can do to support healthcare and holds a number of positions on national working groups that further key agendas, including interoperability.

Jill has worked in health and digital transformation most of her career , having started as a manager in the NHS and moving to major digital transformation programmes from which she has worked for a number of technical suppliers and consultancies. As CEO of Sitekit she has led the development of the health and social care expansion and is pleased to have a number of early forays in Scotland which is the home of Sitekit’s founder.

I am a Digital Healthcare Partner at KPMG. I am responsible for the growth of KPMG Digital Healthcare Business in the UK. My portfolio is centered on helping clients across the NHS at national, regional, and local level to transform care enabled by digital and data. I started my career as a NHS doctor in Acute Medicine and General Practice. I have practised in the UK and New Zealand. After completing my MBA at Cambridge I decided to pivot my career into Healthcare Consulting. I started in professional services with Deloitte, and went on to work for IBM and Infosys. I have worked with a wide range of Healthcare clients in the UK, US and UAE. I have over 10 years’ experience in clinically enabled technology transformation programmes. I am a passionate leader. I believe to truly transform the NHS, we need to adopt an ecosystem approach with partners that delivers end-to-end transformation with tangible benefits to the system. This reduces health inequalities and improves outcomes for society.

Will is Managing Director at Big Health, the UK-founded digital therapeutics SME whose mission is to make psychological treatment as scalable as pharmaceuticals. Big Health’s flagship treatment Sleepio (for insomnia) secured first-of-its-kind NICE guidance in May 2022, recommended as more clinically effective than standard of care and cost-saving for the NHS. Sleepio is nationally commissioned in Scotland where it has been accessed by over 70,000 patients, and secured FDA clearance in August 2024. Big Health's treatment pipeline includes Daylight (for anxiety), which is undergoing real-world health economic evaluation in NHS primary care services in Yorkshire & the Humber, and Spark (for depression), which has undergone its first RCT with strong clinical outcomes.

I have worked in Healthcare IT for nearly 20 years and now have my own company where I work with Health and Social Care organisations, and system suppliers on digital/product strategy, transformation and go to market strategy. I have a focus on interoperability. I have worked in both major IT suppliers and SMEs and understand the issues faced by both as they sell and try to innovate into the NHS and Social Care and the issues they face having to work with the NHS on regulatory requirements, standards and connection to national systems. I have sat on the council for the last 5 years, am also Vendor Co-Chair of INTEROPen and Chair of the techUK Interoperability Working Group where this year we reached the techUK Interoperability Charter. The relaunch was based on our experience of it being in place for the last 6 years, learning the lessons and improving it.

Angus is a recognised leader in technology-enabled social care. He is passionate about using technology to improve outcomes, improving quality of life and reducing pressure on frontline services. He believes that when support is built around the needs of citizens, the wider health and care system benefits through better outcomes and more sustainable services. Angus works at both policy and operational levels, helping to shape national strategy while supporting practical change across health, housing and social care. He focuses on how technology can make services easier to access, improve workforce efficiency, strengthen integration and make better use of data. A strong advocate for cultural change, he helps organisations embed digital solutions into new models of care. He has written and contributed to several national reports with partners including the County Councils Network, ADASS and the TEC Services Association, helping to build the case for government investment in digital social care. He is Chair of techUK’s Social Care Working Group and a member of several national advisory groups, including DSCAG. A regular speaker on assistive technology and digital reform, and with a background in business management and accountancy, he brings strategic insight and financial expertise to his work - always focused on improving outcomes for citizens, carers and communities

Rich McIntyre is a technologist and lead architect with over 20 years’ experience delivering national-scale solutions across technology and engineering. He is recently a lead architect on multiple NHS England programmes, including the Single Patient Record, while operating as CTO for CGI’s Leeds Business Unit. Rich is also the founder of Leeds Digital Health and sits on the TechUK Health and Social Care Council, helping drive digital innovation in healthcare forwards.

Sally is the Chief Commercial Officer at Patients Know Best and serving on her 4th year on the techUK Health and Social care council. Alongside the running of PKB, having spent the last 12 years supporting the SME she has worked for in the navigation and scaling of the healthcare market in the UK and internationally. With a deep understanding of the complexities that face SMEs Sally has also sat on the NHSE SME advisory group since 2023 and chairs the techUK SME focus group.

Dr Justin Whatling is an experienced global healthcare and IT leader with a medical background. He excels in growing businesses, operationalising complex value propositions, and leading organisational transformations with over 25 years’ experience in using technology and informatics to transform outcomes for patients. He is CEO of OptumUK, and holds a number of advisory roles as a member of the Health & Social Care Council for techUK, a member of the BCS Academy of Computing board representing BCS on the management committee of the BMJ Health and Care Informatics journal, and a member of the CW+ innovation advisory board the official charity of Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Justin is a Fellow of BCS The Chartered Institute for IT and a Leading Practitioner Federation of Informatics Professionals. Prior to his role in Optum, Justin was managing director health and life sciences for Palantir. Previous roles include leading Cerner's population health business outside of the USA, BT Health, Accenture and ran a health outcomes business on behalf of Bupa. He is a past chair for BCS Health when founded the Federation of Informatics Professionals. He was previously an independent member of the NHS’s National Information Board, a non-executive director of the BMJ publishing group, and has sat on the healthcare strategic advisory team of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Lauren has spent the past 2 decades working with and for the NHS. She has spent the past decade in some of the largest programmes in health technology - the NHS app, nhs.uk and various programmes through COVID such as the risk stratification algorithm. She has worked as a hospital cleaner through to NHS director and is qualified as a clinician, accountant, data scientist and has experience in operations management, financial and technical leadership and major programmes. She is part of the techUK health and social care board and has been for the past 5 years. Her current role is as the health strategy and innovation lead for Capgemini for the UK where she brings together her 2 decades of broad delivery experience together to lead on a range of strategic programmes across national and local clients.

Heather Cook has spent the past 15 years working in digital health, developing evidence-based programmes that help people make meaningful, lasting changes to their health and wellbeing. She has held CEO and Managing Director roles in organisations focused on improving outcomes for people living with neurodiverse conditions, mental health challenges and addiction. Heather has worked extensively with health systems in the UK and has spent time in the United States exploring innovative recovery models, including personalised behavioural health and recovery ecosystems that support long-term change. She is passionate about combining technology, community support and lived experience to help people build healthier, more hopeful futures.