Charli Land is head of commercial operations at Inhealthcare and has been at the forefront of health technology for the last decade, helping to deliver the digital transformation of the NHS.
What does your role involve?
I work closely with both our customers but also our commercial partners as well. My main aim is to ensure that we provide solutions that meet their requirements. I support our sales team and account management team, from gathering requirements to delivery and business as usual, to make sure that we do deliver those solutions.
What’s your background?
I am originally from Bradford and I studied economics at Leeds Beckett University. I completed a sandwich year at the healthcare software provider EMIS Health and went back full time after finishing my degree. It was a massive springboard at the start of my career and I have been at the forefront of digital health ever since. I spent seven years at EMIS and headed up its partnership programme with commercial organisations wishing to integrate with EMIS. I took two years out at a telecoms provider and then did some consultancy work before joining Inhealthcare in February 2021.
What do you enjoy most about working for Inhealthcare?
It’s the variety. Every day is different. I might be visiting a customer to see a service go live or I might be speaking about a contract with a new partner. It’s getting stuck into the different things that makes it for me. I like building rapport with the customers, making sure they feel valued and finding a common way of working. When you see a clinician adding patients to a new pathway so they can be monitored at home it’s a really good feeling.
What sets Inhealthcare apart from other providers?
After nearly a decade in digital health, I believe the Inhealthcare approach to providing one remote monitoring solution for a range of conditions helps to set us apart. A lot of digital health providers focus on one condition and this isn’t scalable for the majority of patients. We cannot expect them to manage their health and wellbeing through multiple solutions/apps. Inhealthcare’s approach to integration cements this, by integration with NHS Login we help to provide a seamless approach to logon for patients and our open APIs provide a common way in which NHS organisations can integrate patients’ data with their primary and secondary care systems. This ensures clinicians and care givers have access to up-to-date and correct patient data at all times if required.
What’s it like being a woman in tech?
For a number of years I would be around the table with a group of middle-aged men and there was always the question of ‘is she the note-taker or the tea girl?’ As I have got older and grown in confidence, it does not bother me so much. Being a decision maker and being a woman, you have got to lean in to these discussions and believe you have every right.
What advice would you give to young women thinking of a career in tech?
I have always worked on the premise of listen and learn. If you’re interested in something, go for it and learn as much as you can. Don’t be afraid. There’s a lot of networking groups for women in tech businesses, especially in places like Leeds.
What’s the future for digital health?
I think providers have to be wary of the public attitude towards technology. Many people still want face-to-face appointments. There is a lot of work to be done to explain the benefits of the changes we are making in digital healthcare and what these can provide. But in two decades from now, people in their 60s and 70s will be used to these technologies and adding their vital signs to a tablet.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I am very close to my family and spend a lot of time with my three nieces and nephew and socialising with my friends. I like to holiday and go to new places. Australia was an experience but I love Dubai with shopping, nice hotels and dressing up to go out and eat. You can’t go wrong!
* Charli Land is head of commercial operations at Inhealthcare and can be reached via charlotte.land@intechnologyplc.com