Health informaticians “embattled”, claims ASSIST

A survey by the Association for Informatics Professionals in Health and Social Care (ASSIST) has claimed that those working in health informatics suffer from low morale and feel they have been let down by Agenda for Change.

Evaluation of healthcare informatics posts is inconsistent and pay uncompetitive, says ASSIST, and the formal establishment of healthcare informatics as a profession was necessary.

These issues are affecting staff retention, said ASSIST, with vacancy rates ranging from 12% for information managers to 4% for senior managers and clinical informatics staff.

Organisations covering around 6,000 out of a total of 25,000 informatics staff in the NHS replied to the survey, which was carried out between March and July this year.

"The strong impression from the survey is of an embattled group of staff, with low morale, feeling under-valued and unable to control their own destiny in the face of the pace of policy and organisational change," said ASSIST, a member group of the British Computer Society.

The group also predicted future skills shortages in project management, information analysis and ICT training. It recommended that staff be involved with the development of health informatics as a profession, while keeping in mind that a only a minority of staff were in favour of mandatory registration.

Andrew Haw, chair of ASSIST, said: "Front-line services rely critically on information and information technology. These depend on a skilled, professional and motivated workforce.

"With tough competition for informatics specialists from all sectors of the economy, the ASSIST survey highlights the need for urgent action across the NHS on health informatics workforce planning, recruitment and retention and the establishment of health informatics as formal profession."

ASSIST have pledged to follow the results of the survey up at a high level within Connecting for Health and the Information Centre for Health and Social Care.

Related documents
ASSIST Workforce Survey

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