The NHS Clinical Leaders Network, a Department of Health-supported initiative, has launched an innovative Bank of Clinicians to give suppliers cost-effective access to clinicians with a range of expertise.
The CLN Bank will link clinical staff to programme leaders who require a clinical viewpoint or expertise to help deliver projects in the NHS or other health environments.
Engagements can be short term or longer, with work ranging from committee representation, testing of systems and strategic advice, to programme and policy planning and operational delivery.
NHS CLN told eHealth Insider it hoped that by providing a single point of access to clinical expertise it would be possible to make clinical engagement and involvement in a variety of projects much easier to achieve.
Jim Easton, the DH’s national director for improvement, and DH medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, have been supportive of the initiative.
Professor Graham Ramsay of the DH’s standard contracts team, and a member of CLN Bank, told EHI: “The Bank is both a network and a platform that gives NHS providers, commissioners and technology vendors the ability to tap into a deep pool of clinical expertise.”
He added that one of the main attractions of the Bank was that it gave access to working clinicians.
“The Bank includes many active clinicians who don’t want to give up their jobs or clinical roles, but do want to extend themselves and make their expertise more widely available.”
Clinicians in the Bank make their expertise available on a daily or contract basis.
“This can be for helping design clinical pathways or working with software and technology vendors who can’t afford to have expensive clinical staff on the payroll,” said Professor Ramsay.
He added that the most important benefits came from the opportunity to get “rapid and cost-effective” clinical involvement and expertise provided to projects when they needed it.
He also said that more than 400 clinicians are already members of the Bank, representing a wide cross-section of clinical specialities and expertise.
Dr Raj Kumar, chair of the NHS CLN, said: “There is no doubt that the advice and knowledge provided by clinicians to projects within the NHS is essential.
"However, for some time we have recognised that those leading these projects struggle to identify and engage with clinical individuals with the insight and expertise they require.”
He added: “The Bank addresses this issue and will enable organisations to engage with the right clinical experts early and easily.”
To deliver the Bank, the NHS CLN has partnered with NHS resourcing specialist, Sand Resources, which is on numerous NHS national frameworks.
Linton Ward, MD at Sand Resources, said: “We hope this will lead to improved engagement and ultimately more effective delivery of NHS projects.”
Interested clinicians wishing to find out more about the NHS Clinical Leaders Network and the CLN Bank of Clinicians should visit its website or email.
© 2011 EHealth Media.
The BCS Primary Health Care Specialist Group are delighted to back the EHI call for clinical engagement at board level, their CCIO campaign. We have long pushed for recognition that health informatics is now an essential part of health care, and needs top level clinical involvement.
Through our work with the NHS we recognise that it is fundamentally important for IT projects to be clinically driven from the outset to ensure their success, and that’s why BT is delighted to support E-Health Insider’s campaign. Never before has there been a better time for IT to really make a difference to the NHS and the creation of this new role will ensure IT remains high on the agenda and clinically led.
It's blindingly obvious that one is needed.
Simples
The Royal College of Anaesthetists is happy to endorse the campaign for Chief Clinical Information Officers in NHS Trusts. In an environment of growing innovation for information generation in the healthcare environment, it is vital that integration of systems and coordination of effort is seen as paramount to ensure good communication and appropriate data security – the CCIO role will be vital to provide professional management and patient reassurance.
Clinical leadership of IT is essential to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and bring healthcare IT into the 21st century.
Delighted to see this campaign receive the level of support it so richly deserves from so many of the Royal Colleges and other professional groups. The change that the campaign will hopefully bring about is long overdue. Well done to EHI for organising.For what it%u219s worth, as a public health doctor and registered health informatician, I fully support the campaign.Better intelligence = better decisions = better healthDr Brendan O%u219BrienUKCHIP Level 3
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