Allied Health Professional students gain early insight into digital leadership at DHCW
6 March 2026
The Clinical Informatics Team recently hosted two third-year physiotherapy students Carys Edmunds and Hannah Thomas as part of a leadership placement pilot in collaboration with Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW).
During the placement, the students participated in observational activities, including shadowing key meetings attended by the Clinical Informatics Team. These sessions included the Wales Informatics Advisory Group where the students had the opportunity to observe a range of digital projects and programmes delivering assurance presentations to the group.
Carys said: “During my placement, I gained valuable insight into how clinical informatics supports service planning, data-driven decision-making, and workforce development. It helped me better understand the role of digital systems and data in improving patient care and supporting clinicians across services.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with HEIW and DHCW, as it opened my eyes to the range of career options available to me as an Allied Health Professional(AHP). The placement gave me valuable insight into how clinical informatics supports data-driven decision-making and improvements in patient care.”
The placement organised under a ‘hub and spoke’ model, aims to cultivate leadership capabilities within clinical placements and to embed digital practices at an earlier stage in clinicians’ careers, thereby reinforcing the strategic importance of digital transformation across the healthcare sector, and clinical informatics as a nationally recognised career path.
The success of this pilot has resulted in the coordination of nursing placements between the two organisations and the planning of a second AHP cohort for summer 2026.
Rachel Lewis, Chief AHP Officer at DHCW said: “I am delighted that we could support this innovative leadership placement pilot, which gives students early exposure to the digital foundations that increasingly underpin modern health and social care.
“Developing confident, digitally‑enabled clinicians is essential for the future of safe, effective, and person‑centred care. Placements like this help demystify digital roles, strengthen leadership capability, and showcase the breadth of opportunity available to AHPs within Wales’ digital transformation journey.
“The success of this pilot reinforces the value of embedding digital skills early in clinical careers, and we look forward to building on this momentum through upcoming nursing placements and the next AHP cohort in 2026.”