Yorkshire LHCRE to train IT leaders to international standards

A Local Health and Care Record Exemplar (LHCRE) programme has begun training IT leaders to internationally recognised standards.

The Yorkshire and Humber LHCRE now has 30 healthcare IT leaders trained under the College for Healthcare Informatics Professionals (CHIME).

Seven of which attained the CHIME Healthcare Chief Information Officer (CHCIO) qualification.

CHIME was invited to provide training by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Over two weekends, the Healthcare CIO Boot Camp put participants through a seven-part curriculum, focusing on the leadership skills needed in healthcare IT.

Participants were from Trusts, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and local authorities in the region.

Richard Corbridge, a CHIME faculty member and CIO at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said: “Having so many of our digital team across the region able to complete the Healthcare CIO Boot Camp here at Leeds and be successfully accredited is testament not only to the existing skills we have, but the dedication across the region to continuous development of digital health for citizens healthcare.”

Samantha Atkinson, digital and informatics team project manager at Leeds Teaching Hospitals who has 20 years experience in the NHS, said the bootcamp “opened up the way I think about networking, team building and relationships”.

“When I was invited to join the CHIME bootcamp I wasn’t sure that I was at the right level to successfully engage in a learning specifically tailored for CIO level,” she said.

“The bootcamp though, opened up the way I think about networking, team building and relationships in the projects that I do and will do in the future.”

It comes as the NHS long-term plan set out ambitious targets for primary care to be ‘digital first’ in the next 10 years, with a CIO or chief clinical information officer (CCIO) on the board of each trust.

Will Smart, CIO at NHS England and CHIME Board member, added: “It is great to see some of the excellent NHS and local authority health tech leaders recognised through the CHCIO qualification.

“Professional accreditation is fundamentally important to support our drive towards the goals of improving patient centered care by further utilising current and future technical innovation.”