The first UK-wide chief clinical information officer survey has shown that a broad range of highly experienced clinicians aspire to become information leaders.
Of the 114 people who took the survey, some 40% were nurses, 28% hospital doctors, 5% GPs and 5% midwives.
The survey was exclusively open to clinicians who are members of the CCIO Leaders Network. This was set up to build on the success of the EHI CCIO Campaign, which urged all NHS organisations to consider appointing a CCIO to lead on IT and information projects.
The network, which was launched in March by former health secretary Andrew Lansley, aims to promote and develop current and future clinical information leaders across the NHS.
Responses to the survey, which will be used to inform the development of the network, suggest that CCIO is a role that appeals most to experienced clinicians.
The largest number of respondents (39%) had been qualified health professionals for 20-30 years, with 28% qualified for more than 30-years. By contrast, just 4% had been qualified for less than five years and 6% for five to ten years.
When asked to describe their level of seniority, 71% of respondents described themselves as “senior” and only 1% described themselves as “junior”.
Their primary areas of interest in clinical IT were “clinical Information systems implementation” (73%) and “clinical engagement” within their organisation (72%), with the next favourite being “mobile technologies in healthcare” (69%).
Other topics of interest were “information strategy implementation” (46%), patient reported outcomes and experience (41%), social media in healthcare (37%), and software development and innovation (33%).
Unsurprisingly, 80% of respondents wanted to develop IT as part of their career, and many are already doing this.
Some 16% said “my job is exclusively focused on managing and leading clinical information projects”, while just over a third (34%) said their job was “substantially” or “exclusively” focused on this area, and half said they had “regular”, “occasional” or “some” involvement.
The CCIO Leaders Network has been developed in partnership with the Royal College of Physicians and the British Computer Soceity, with support from BT, Cerner and CSC.
It has been running a series of roadshows on the role of the CCIO in different sectors, and on the skills and attributes needed to be a successful CCIO.
Just 23% of survey said they had a formal IT qualification, with the majority of these possessing a postgraduate IT qualification. A far higher percentage (39%) said they had a leadership or management qualification, with the highest percentage being at postgraduate level.
Respondents to the survey came from every part of the UK, with the highest number from the South East (28%). Three quarters (73%) of respondents work in the public sector, with 6% in the private sector and 18% in both.