Interview with Gregg Hardie, Head of Public Sector, Samsung

Thoughts from Gregg Hardie, Head of Public Sector from Samsung following his participation in Jersey’s Health Technology Day during Enterprise Week. The day was delivered by Digital Jersey, CiChange and Total Solutions Group.

What was your first impression of Jersey?

‘As a first time visitor to Jersey I was delighted with the welcome and the quality of the event that was put on at Digital Jersey last week. In my experience it is very rare for someone (Danny and Paul) to pull together so many diverse members of the community who are all striving to drive it forward. It was very inspiring.

As I mentioned in one of the talks I gave my colleague Scott Andrew, who leads healthcare in the UK for Samsung, was supposed to be there giving the talk, but somewhat ironically he was experiencing healthcare first-hand in the UK following an operation. A very dedicated approach to understanding how his work could improve patient outcomes! However it did leave me slightly unprepared for the variety of engagements over the day.

How did you find the sessions?

The sessions and meetings took two different directions. The first strand was focused on the development of the IT currently delivered within States of Jersey and the conversations focused on the different programs, Samsung has seen around the world that have delivered benefits to public sector IT across education, local government, central government, police and healthcare.

The second strand was focused on the incubator status of the Island and many of the fantastic new ideas developing that could make a significant impact both to the healthcare of the States and also the future business strategy as revenues are derived from the international healthcare community.

In summary, I was hugely impressed with the desire of transform the delivery of IT and be a leading light in the innovative new ways to move to the emerging digital ways to deliver government services.

How can Samsung help?

Samsung has great experience in partnering with organisation to provide solutions for these programs and conversations focused on the part technology can play in transforming the delivery of services to improve outcomes.

For example, giving workers access to patient records at point of need in order to speed up decision making, increase efficiency and allow more patients to be seen in a day. Also, how the sharing of information across services can improve outcomes i.e. if a social worker knows the person they are about to visit was arrested the week before then the manner they approach the visit will change to enhance the outcome and vice versa.

How is wearable tech helping?

Samsung is seeing the innovative use of wearables to enhance patient experiences by providing a reminder to take medication or that a community worker is due to visit. It was great to discuss this type of project and how similar programs could be delivered in the States.

What did you think about the local APP development scene?

A real high point was talking to the many, varied developers who are creating the new breed of applications that will enhance and transform both the individual patient experience and also the efficacy of the clinicians who are treating them. These applications support telehealth, long term condition management and support for patients families to highlight just a few of the conversations I had.

Do you think Jersey has a future as an incubator?

What I saw made me certain that the capabilities exist to make this incubator a great success. I believe that for real success in this area the message should be sent out that this is the place for MedTech development and that all the support and access to resources is on the Island. If everyone focuses on this goal then it has a great chance to realise its full potential.

Will Samsung be back to Jersey and what global influence can it bring?

To finish, I want to confirm that I look forward to my next visit to Jersey and working in partnership over the coming months and years to support the excellent work that has already begun. There are so many exciting projects to get involved in.

I believe Samsung can enhance by bringing our experiences from around the world. I look forward to seeing the many people I met again soon.