Job descriptions

Chief Clinical Informatics (or Information) Officer

One of the key recommendations from the report of the Faculty of Clinical Informatics (FCI) Core Competency Framework (CF) Working Group was to work with key stakeholders to review job descriptions for clinical informaticians and to develop a set of job / role descriptions and person specifications, beginning with a Chief Clinical Informatics (or Information) Officer (CCIO), before expanding to multiple roles.

The FCI was aware, anecdotally, that there was inconsistency in the content of CCIO job descriptions (JDs) and that there was a desire from its membership to have guidance in addressing this.

The FCI, therefore, conducted a piece of work to develop a resource, endorsed by the FCI and based on the CF, for members to use within their own organisations to support professionalisation of the CCIO role. 

A multi-professional working group, chaired by Professor Lesley Holdsworth, Clinical Lead for Digital Health and Care, Scottish Government, developed assessment criteria based on the six domains of the CF and reviewed 41 existing digital health JDs (18 were CCIO) provided by members of the FCI across all four nations. Findings supported the anecdotal evidence that there was unwarranted variation, demonstrating the requirement for national guidance to help standardise the CCIO role. 

In line with nationally endorsed guidance (the Wachter 2016 report, Topol Review, 2018) this new guidance, published by the FCI, describes the CCIO as:

  • the single most senior clinical informatician within an organisation

  • an executive role with an associated salary to reflect this

  • a role that can be fulfilled by an individual from any professional background who can demonstrate competencies as outlined within the FCI Competency Framework.  

All users of this guidance are invited to submit feedback using the form linked below, that will inform later iterations of the guidance and future work in this area. 
 

Recommendations 

  1. Organisations should use this guidance when developing new CCIO JDs.

  2. FCI should encourage its members to review their own JD against the guidance and exemplar JD and update their JD/negotiate with their employer as required.

  3. FCI should offer a support service to organisations who are developing CCIO JDs. 

  4. FCI should discuss the CCIO role with Agenda for Change and other regulatory bodies to ensure there is appropriate salary grading available for CCIOs from all clinical backgrounds.

  5. The impact of this guidance on the content and quality of newly developed CCIO JDs should be reviewed in twelve months by seeking feedback through the FCI. A record of the number of enquiries made to FCI for assistance in their development should also be kept.

  6. FCI should continue the work in this project to define the organisational structure of the ‘office’ of the CCIO and to develop model job descriptions for all members of this team, in collaboration with key stakeholders, such as FedIP.

Download CCIO Job Description
CCIO Job Description Report

To provide feedback on the Job Description please e-mail [email protected]