Boots has become the first retail healthcare business to partner with the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), allowing Boots team members access to its education programme to become accredited digital healthcare leaders.

The initiative allows Boots team members to learn from NHS, CHIME and industry experts. To complete the programme, team members must research and conceptualise a real business initiative that utilises digital technology.

The new ideas are then presented internally at the executive level to see if they are suitable to be implemented in the Boots business. If approved, concepts will be funded by Boots as new initiatives in digital healthcare.

Rich Corbridge, CIO for Boots UK & ROI said: “The partnership with CHIME is such an exciting one for the business and for Boots team members on an individual level. Our team members get the unprecedented chance to upskill by learning from industry experts with a specific goal of producing new and exciting ideas that could have a direct and meaningful impact on the digital healthcare industry.

“The programme presents the perfect opportunity to be creative and bold. I can’t wait to see what ideas our brilliant team members on the programme can come up with, and which innovations we can move forward with as a business.”

Emma Eatch, Head of Clinical Analytics for Boots UK is amongst the first cohort of students to have undertaken the CHIME programme. She has already presented her initiative and is set to sit the final exams at the end of January. She commented:

“Rich Corbridge has been my mentor for a while now, and after having had discussions with him about resilience in business, he nominated me for the CHIME programme. The blend of the in-person ‘bootcamp’, online learning and the project initiation has made for a truly insightful and rewarding experience. I’m incredibly excited to see which initiatives are progressed.”

To give its team members further access to industry learning, Boots has also partnered with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) in creating a series of webinars for in-store teams. The webinars give insight into how digital healthcare will look for patients, pharmacies, and the healthcare profession going forward.

Rich Corbridge added: “These two initiatives come together to ensure that Boots team members can make the most from technology in the healthcare space. We want to ensure we can offer solutions to healthcare problems, and by investing in our team members, we’re enabling them to be part of that solution.”