BCS Health to develop CCIO job guide

BCS Health is to take forward three strands of work to support the EHI CCIO Campaign.

Justin Whatling, chief clinical information officer at BT Health and vice chair of BCS Health, is leading work to develop job descriptions for CCIOs in the NHS.

He is also leading work to map out some career pathways for clinicians who want to specialise in informatics; and case studies to describe the experience of people who have already moved into CCIO-type roles.

Whatling said the work would involve sourcing job descriptions internationally and looking at how these might be adapted for the UK. But he said mapping out career pathways would be just as important.

“When I was a junior doctor, I could see how I could become a consultant surgeon or a cardiologist, for example. But I could not see how I could pursue a career in informatics.”

He is planning to develop a booklet with the Royal College of Physicians for like-minded clinicians who are struggling with a career path.

“It is important to help people to understand what roles are out there and how they can develop the skills to achieve them,” he said. “Understanding and using information effectively takes a lifetime to learn as a skill.”

The EHI CCIO Campaign is calling for every NHS provider organisation to consider appointing a chief clinical information officer to lead on IT and the use of information to improve patient care.

It launched two months ago with an open letter to health secretary Andrew Lansley, urging him to support clinical champions in the NHS to deliver his promised 'Information Revolution'.

Since then, it has attracted significant support from politicians, NHS IT leaders, suppliers and EHI readers - who can lend their support by signing the petition on the EHI CCIO Campaign's dedicated web pages.

Whatling argued that clinical leadership for IT was essential for the NHS. “We still see IT systems being implemented and clinical staff who do not think they are relevant to them. They need to understand that I T can deliver a transformation in the way they work.”

Clinical informaticians provided the bridge between IT staff and clinicians taking this view, he said. “Information and informatics are fundamental to improving professional care. The failure to exploit information systems is a missed opportunity.”

He added: “The people to take control of information are the people who understand health care and how it works. It is time for us to step up and start taking information very seriously.”

Matthew Swindells, the chair of BCS Health, makes the case for CCIOs and outlines the organisation's work in this week's Insight section.

Some of the early results of the work will be presented at the EHI Live 2011 conference and exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham on 7-8 November; which has an EHI CCIO Campaign stream for the first time. Show registration is now open.