Staff email on plan for hiring suggests increased emphasis on tech for Tim Kelsey’s replacement
The head of England’s NHS has indicated that it plans to recruit a new chief information and technology officer in the new year.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, has sent an internal email to staff outlining plans for the appointment, and saying the role will take in strategy, commissioning and delivery assurance.
The role will be a replacement for that of Tim Kelsey, who has led the IT agenda for the health service in his role as director of patients and information.
It suggests an increased emphasis on technology, although Kelsey has established a reputation as a champion digitising services and a move towards a “paperless NHS”.
Ensure benefits
The email, initially reported in HSJ, said: “The (chief information and technology officer) will chair the National Information Board and will ensure the benefits of technology investments in nationally funded programmes are realised, support local health and care systems to embed core digital standards in their services, and transform public access to information tools and services.”
It added that the new chief will be responsible for commissioning data services and technology programmes.
Kelsey is to leave the NHS in December to join Australian company Telstra Health.
In September, he urged health service organisations to inject more urgency into the push for digitisation, telling the NHS Innovation Expo Conference: “Without fully digitised patient data that can be shared across healthcare settings, the NHS cannot modernise in the way that is required.”
