Martin Whittaker

Experience

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  Ferranti Computer Systems Ltd

  Jun 1979 - Dec 1988

  Healthcare Sales and Marketing Manager

  Started as programmer on hospital pathology systems, moving through project management, sales support, sales and sales management. Headhunted to start up Community Health Computing Ltd

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  Community Health Computing Ltd

  Jan 1988 - Feb 1992

  Director of European Operations

  Board director with responsibilities for sales and operations, initially for the UK and then for European opportunities.Grew company from a 1-man "bring your own pencil" operation to 20 people and £2M+ turnover

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  Touchstone Consultancy Ltd

  Mar 1991 - Mar 2022

  Director

  Recent projects include:- Study of data quality issues at a major London teaching hospital- Post implementation review of a clinical system project- Management of a hospital pharmacy system implementation- Successful renegotiation of a moribund Management Print Services Contract at a major London hospital - the "Lazarus Shuffle"- Programme management and support services for the Community Information Project at the Department of Health.

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  ...career highlights

  Jan 2000 - now

  Just a few...

  - Inventing - whilst a research scientist - a high strength cement that lasted for around a week before literally tearing itself apart due to internal stresses. I know how it feels.- Being - briefly - a World Expert in something (Year 2000 issues in healthcare) and being invited to speak all round the world. Then finding my expert status and most of my business disappeared on 2 Jan 2000.- Having two letters published in The Times: one on the firkin/furlong/fortnight system of measurement (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/letters/article3932682.ece if you're interested), and the other on Morris Dancing. - 5 years as a diary writer for the British Journal of Healthcare Computing, writing the "Dr Touchstone Column", where I managed to use every joke I ever knew, re-expressed in terms of healthcare IT- Appearing on the Bahrain television news, having run IT training courses for the British Council. Then discovering that almost everybody who lives in Bahrain appears on the television news.- Enjoying a brief but glorious period evaluating takeover targets in the US. I've never eaten so much fillet steak and lobster in my life.- 17 years as a parish councillor, trying to Make The World A Better Place. Followed by 5 years as a parish clerk, trying to help others do the same. With distinctly mixed results.- Having - astonishingly - 2 more letters published in the Times. One was biting political comment concerning the then Prime Minister feeding English food to the Chinese Party Chairman that wasn't really English. The other was about problems a council in Dorset was having with a resident who wanted to name his house Far Corfe View. My life is now complete. Show less

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  HL7 UK

  Jan 2000 - now

  Founder and Financial Director

  HL7 UK is the UK Affiliate of Health Level Seven International, the world's leading healthcare IT standards development organisation. HL7 UK has around 100 members, drawn from the NHS, government, IT equipment and services suppliers and healthcare IT experts.HL7 standards are used throughout the NHS, providing the "language" that healthcare IT systems use to talk to each other. Without HL7 standards, healthcare would have to go back to sending letters and faxes - though regrettably some die-hards still use these. Show less

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  Rooksdown Parish Council

  Nov 2017 - Jun 2021

  Clerk to the Parish Council

  Handling all the financial and admin for the council, providing legal and procedural advice. Responsible for all the executive actions to implement policy decuded by the councillors. "Clerk" is an ancient title in England and is rather misleading: councils are starting to retitle their clerks as Executive Officers or Chief Executives, as this better describes the role.

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  Dogmersfield Parish Council

  Jun 2021 - Mar 2022

  Clerk to the Parish Council

  Standard parish clerk role for a small council. Unfortunately I don't think they really wanted a professional clerk and it didn't work out