NHS Connecting for Health has announced that its national clinical lead for nursing, Heather Tierney-Moore, is to leave her post for a new job in Scotland.
Tierney-Moore, who is also chief nurse at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, has been appointed director of nursing at NHS Lothian and will take up her post in the new year.
She was one of five clinical leads appointed last November by Alan Burns when he became director of service implementation at Connecting for Health. Since then Burns himself has left Connecting for Health.
A spokesman for NHS Connecting for Health told EHI Primary Care that CfH was already looking for a replacement.
He added: "We know that engagement with the nursing community is a vital activity and we are already working with the Royal College of Nursing and others to find a replacement for Heather."
Richard Jeavons, the current director of service implementation for NHS Connecting for Health said: “We wish Heather well and thank her for the efforts she has made to develop relations with key nursing stakeholders over the past months. She has already had a significant impact and we are committed to finding someone of equal calibre to build on the foundations Heather has laid.”
The clinical leads were appointed to address problems with clinical engagement identified by the National Programme for IT and to communicate between the programme and the professions in both directions.
A survey published by the Royal College of Nursing in July this year found that although rising numbers of nurses felt better informed about NHS IT developments the majority still said they had inadequate information or no information at all.
Barbara Stuttle is to continue in her role as community nursing adviser to Connecting for Health.