When I talk to people about how they might approach writing an official blog, I always say they should make sure they're prepared to give enough of themself to make it interesting.
People tend to read blogs because they are interested in hearing a point of view, and a bit of personal context about the author helps make a point of view authentic and credible.
In my own case, it's born out by the stats. However much I might like to think that my thoughts here about digital strategy and communication are a compelling must-read for a vast audience, the blog I wrote 3 years ago about my experience using the web to help care for my son is still the most read, most shared, and most remarked upon thing I've put up here.
It can be a tricky thing to do. I'm a pretty private person by inclination, and I have always compartmentalised to an extent. But I'm also a fairly voracious reader of other people's blogs, and I have enjoyed and benefited from reading the more personal thoughts of others.
Despite where I work, I tend to see the health and care system through the experience of my own family. When I think about issues like integration, I think about the particular challenges we have faced trying to coordinate the multiple specialist services my son has used in hospitals and in the community. And when I think about policy solutions, such as the provision of a single named clinician, I think about how that might make a difference to my son's care in the future.
But I also think about technology, digital services and digital communication, and how they each play a role in my experience of the health and care system. Sometimes I feel like an unofficial mystery shopper for this stuff.
Over the last few years my own family have needed to test some of the ways that the health and care system deals with information. We've needed to made requests from information governance departments for example, and as a result, I have a load of MRI scans and video fluoroscopies burnt onto a disc.
I've been amazed by the ways my son's paper records move around the health and care system. I've been frustrated when they've not arrived in time for an appointment. And I was seriously worried when they turned up in the wrong chronological order, having been dropped on the floor and put back together on the way.
Social media remains central to the way we gather and share information about my son's care. He was born with a rare set of medical conditions, and there just aren't many people about who have had similar experiences, but we're in touch with people around the world via a social media. It's reassuring, practically useful, and often inspiring to hear their stories.
And during the summer, my son, who had never eaten anything via his mouth until then, learned how to do it during a series of four 30 minute video conferences with a team of researchers and specialist speech therapists from a university in New York. If you want an example of the potential for the internet to change a health outcome, look no further.
The internet is amazing. It has changed, and is changing, people's lives. So find out more, subscribe to a blog, make a pledge. And I'll try to follow my own advice - check back in 3 years for an update.