Meet the Sparked Clinical Co-Leads: Harry Iles-Mann

We asked Harry some questions about his involvement with Sparked, here is what he had to say!

🤔 What is your working background?

As someone that’s been living with complex chronic illness since infancy I was really born into the world of health. As I’ve come to terms with my own health and what matters to me I resolved to try and channel my experiences of the health system to hopefully improve the way we can support others. The ways I’ve done this and the roles I’ve had on this journey have been varied, and I am now very grateful to be regarded as a Health Consumer Leader, an Expert Advisor to the ADHA, the Consumer Representative Advisor to the DoHAC Digital Health Branch, and most importantly an agent for positively transforming experiences and outcomes of health care through digital.

🤔 How did you become involved with Sparked?

It was through some existing speaking engagements and work I was doing with the Australian Digital Health Agency that I had an introduction to Kate and some of the Sparked team. Was clear from the first conversation that our missions aligned, and I was invited to join as a co-lead.

🤔 What is your role within Sparked?

As a co-lead for the CDG, and particularly through my primary lens of lived-experience empowerment and an understanding of the more technical aspects of all things digital, I’m keenly focussed two things: supporting the Sparked program and it’s community to partner in practice with consumers and community, and trying to remind us that through the web of complex systems change, standards, policy, and cultures we wrestle with to make change are people and a public who are depending on our success for their health and wellbeing.

🤔 What does Sparked mean to you?

Sparked is the core change and the most complete chance we have of taking a community-led ground up rebuild of a fit for purpose and value centred health system that connects and standardises data exchanges so people can access the right care, at the right time, in the right place or choose the combination that best supports their values and goals.

🤔 What is something that you hope to achieve within the Sparked program?

The pool of health consumers that are switched on to what many perceive as the dry world of data is a shallow one, and as passionate and (hopefully) competent as I am I can’t, nor should I be, one of only a few to make representations on behalf of every community of experience. So my hope is to build those closer and more diverse practicing partnerships between Sparked and other consumers and communities to our mutual benefit.

🤔 How is the Sparked program different to projects you’ve been involved in before?

The first Sparked meeting I attended in person was like walking into the calm before an expected storm, only that storm didn’t come. I’ll admit I’ve not been a stranger to the clashes of culture in health in my time in this space, and I believe they’re most often caused by competing or unclear values and purpose. But being community driven and facilitated with such a refreshing flare for clarity and ambition, everyone is at the table to contribute in a constructive and progressive way. The tone of Sparked, and it’s community, continues to be both a point of reassurance and motivation to me.

🤔 What’s been your favourite part of working within the Sparked team?

That at the core of “the core of the core” are a team of people driven by a genuine desire to drive positive change for people, and who recognise that this is really about people, not just technology.

🤔 What would you tell someone wanting to learn more about the Sparked project?

There is no better way to learn than by immersing yourself in the atmosphere and rich exchange of insight and experience between people – so just register and come along.

🤔 How will the goals and outcomes of the Sparked Program impact your field/industry/profession?

My goal runs two ways. I hope that my involvement can make a successful case to the Sparked and broader health community that lived-experience and expertise is not an optional extra, but key to creating success, relevance, and value in digital. Conversely, I want to connect more of my peers and communities with areas of foundational reform in health that often set an unreachable bar of entry of technical complexity and require no small amount of good luck to stumble into.

🤔 What’s your favourite Sparked/FHIR pun?

*Lets talk about Sparked ba-by. Let’s talk about FHIR and HIE.*