Mark Jones appointed CIO of North Cumbria Health and Care ICS
- 17 October 2018

The former IT lead at Devon Partnership NHS Trust has been made CIO of the North Cumbria Health and Care Integrated Care System.
Mark Jones, who acted as the trust’s CIO for three years, has been drafted in to head up digital strategy for the integrated care system (ICS) in north-west England.
Jones has spent 18 years within the NHS, having worked across acute, community and primary care, mental health and learning disabilities and within clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).
Jones was also among the first cohort of students of the NHS Digital Academy, which opened its doorsĀ in February 2018.
He said: āIāve had a great first couple of weeks getting to know the teams, and I canāt wait to see what the first few months of my new role bring. When I saw the role advertised, I knew I had to apply, and Iām relishing the opportunity to help shape the digital future for the region.
āThe right technology, shaped around the health and care of the people who use our services, will help provide truly integrated care, and Iām thrilled to be a part of it.ā
North Cumbria was enrolled into NHS Englandās integrated care development programme in May of this year.
The programme is designed to enable organisations to work more closely together to improve the health and wellbeing of local communities.
In North Cumbria, specialist teams have been set up to support older patients at home by linking GPs with consultants, community services and adult social care.
There are also āwell-developed plansā for a Ā£30 million revamp of West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, as well as plans for a new Ā£30 million cancer centre in Carlisle.
Tim Evans, associate chief operating officer and lead officer for the development of integrated care communities, said Jones had joined the North Cumbria ICS at āa really exciting timeā.
He added: āAs we are developing Integrated Care Communities by bringing together primary care doctors and their teams with adult social care and community health teams, it is more important than ever that we make sure our technology not only links across organisational boundaries but enables our staff to work in a more flexible and mobile way.ā