John Uttley - Director

John Uttley, Director

With over 20 years of experience in the NHS across both primary and secondary care, John is a seasoned digital health and informatics professional. His unique combination of senior informatics leadership, a legal background, and qualifications in IT and cyber security equips him with a rare and valuable perspective to support healthcare transformation across organisational boundaries.

Throughout his career, John has led major digital transformation programmes, driven innovation in clinical and operational settings, and played a key advisory role both within the NHS and in broader health and care ecosystems.

Leadership in digital health & programme delivery

As Programme Director for the Staffordshire & Shropshire Integrated Care Record (ICR) project, John successfully:

  • Achieved full stakeholder consensus across all organisations involved
  • Developed the Outline Business Case (OBC) and governance framework
  • Delivered phase one of the programme, integrating primary care records into A&E settings

Interoperability & real-time data systems

John has led the development and deployment of several high-impact interoperability projects, including:

  • Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Test Bed – Built an interoperable command-and-control system using HL7 messaging from RIO
  • Memphis Project – A dementia clinical support tool for managing BPSD, integrating with EPR systems using HL7 and bidirectional care planning
  • EMS Plus – A real-time urgent and emergency care reporting platform using A&E and ambulance data via APIs, now being upgraded to FHIR standards
  • Demand & Capacity System – A live data dashboard for urgent care flow, supporting system-wide decision-making across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin

Innovation & automation

A champion of digital innovation, John has spearheaded multiple projects to improve operational efficiency and user experience, such as:

  • Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to streamline back-office processes
  • AWS Lex-based chatbots to replace referral centre call handlers and support GDPR compliance
  • AI-powered knowledge bots to surface key information from policies and procedures, easing workload for support services such as HR

He also contributed to a 12-month collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, helping to develop Annie, a patient-focused telehealth mobile application.

Academic & thought leadership

John is actively engaged with the academic community and has held the role of Honorary Research Fellow at Keele University’s Institute of Science, Technology and Medicine (iSTM). He also collaborates with Leicester University on research projects focused on heart failure and healthcare service innovation.

His thought leadership includes:

  • Contributing author to Digital Healthcare: The Essential Guide (Otmoor Publishing)
  • Co-author of multiple academic publications bridging healthcare and digital innovation

Qualifications & professional memberships

  • LLM in European and International Law
  • LLB (Hons) (2:1) in Law
  • Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
  • Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
  • PRINCE2 Practitioner
  • Agile Methodology Training
  • Professional Member of ISACA (Member No. 1141358)

Key roles & background

  • Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Founding Director, Staffordshire Commissioning Support Unit (CSU)
  • CIO & Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO), Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire PCTs
  • Deputy Director of Information, Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust