Alastair was named 2021 ‘editor of the year’ by the PPA, the Association of Online Publishers and the British Society of Magazine Editors. He is the only person to have won all three awards in the same year.

He first became editor of HSJ (Health Service Journal) in 2002, and has led the title’s transformation from a weekly trade magazine into an online intelligence service.

HSJ’s coverage of the covid pandemic was praised as industry leading and played a significant role in HSJ’s three subscription revenue streams increasing year-on-year.

Social media – especially Twitter – has been a key part of HSJ’s growth strategy. Alastair has led from the front gaining over 64,000 followers during 11 years of dedicated tweeting. He is listed on 905 news feeds.

20,000 of those followers have been secured since the beginning of the pandemic. During infection peaks, Alastair’s tweets exploring the pressure on the NHS regularly received over one million impressions.