Health CIO becomes national lead for patient empowerment

The DoH's Information Strategy should be published next month

The Department of Health’s (DoH's) director general for informatics, Christine Connelly, has been handed a new role by NHS chief executive David Nicholson.

In a letter to NHS chief executives entitled 'Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS – Managing the transition', Nicholson stated that Connelly will become the national lead for patient empowerment and the publication of information on quality.

In the letter Nicholson said: "...there is a need to undertake national, regional and local work, with the same level of focus and energy as the work already in hand on
commissioning and provision," before stating that this will fall within Connelly's ambit.

The letter was published along with a timeline, which showed that the DoH’s Information Strategy will be published next month together with a publication on choice.

However, Nicholson also commented in his letter that "many of these proposals and timings are subject to the consultation and legislative processes and are therefore not set in stone".