NHS IT to be reorganised

NHS IT is being reorganised

Major IT leadership roles will be moved from NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) to the Department of Health (DoH), as part of a reorganisation of how NHS IT is delivered.

CfH is to become a delivery arm, with policy and strategy questions decided by a team reporting directly to chief information officer for health Christine Connelly.

A new Informatics Directorate will be established within the DoH, consisting of six directors reporting directly to Connelly plus Tim Straughan, chief information officer of the NHS Information Centre.

The six directors will include Martin Bellamy, the head of CfH and director of programme and systems delivery, whose key objective will be “to deliver elements of the NHS systems portfolio”.

Details of the reorganisation were revealed in two internal letters, one from Connelly and one from Bellamy, reported by e-health insider and confirmed by CfH as being broadly accurate.

The role of chief technology officer (CTO) - currently occupied by Paul Jones - will also be moved from CfH to the DoH and will set a common technical architecture for the NHS and ensure that systems conform to it.

“The CTO will own the overall technical architecture to be used by the NHS and Department of Health and will ensure that systems developed conform to that architecture," e-health insider reported.

The other director positions, yet to be filled, are: a director of policy and planning; a chief business architect; a commercial director, informatics; and a clinical director, informatics. All will sit within the DoH.

CfH will also be restructured with eight directors reporting to Bellamy. Three will also report elsewhere. A finance director will also report to the director of NHS finance and the CTO will report to Connelly, and a supplier management director will report to the new commercial director of informatics.

The remaining five directors will be responsible for delivery business units, including one to specifically supervise the implementation of Lorenzo patient record software – there is no equivalent position for the Cerner patient software.

The chief operating officer post is being scrapped after its current holder, Gordon Hextall, departs next month.

The changes will come into effect on 6 April.

Although NHS CfH itself will lose power under the changes, it is possible the reorganisation could actually benefit its cause, according to Tola Sergeant, an analyst with Ovum.

"Closer integration of NHS policy with the IT infrastructure is much needed. Having some NHS CfH people in senior roles within the DoH will put IT experts in a stronger position to influence policy that affects the programme," she said.

A spokesman for NHS CfH said:

"The director general for informatics is building up the core functions required to ensure the development and delivery of an overall informatics strategy for the health and social care system.

"The changes at NHS Connecting for Health are about increasing its focus on delivery and accelerating the implementation of National Programme systems."