Industry Voice: NHS England’s formal recognition of informatics profession brings CPD, career paths and opportunity

The recent announcement by NHS England and FedIP formalises the professional status for IT healthcare employees, outlining both qualifications and structure for membership. Andy Kinnear, ex NHS CIO and now independent consultant, is a former member of professional IT organisations; Assist, UKCHIP, BSC, BCS Health, CHIME and a founder member of FedIP, instrumental in the forming of NHS Digital Academy. He discusses this milestone announcement and what difference it will make to digital health professionals.

Supporting the digital healthcare profession

At the recent Digital Health Rewired event, a significant upgrade to the professional register for people working in digital health and care, created by the Federation of Informatics Professionals, FedIP, was announced.

As a collaboration between the leading professional bodies in health and care informatics, BCS, CILIP, IHRIM, Socitm and AphA, FedIP supports the development of the informatics profession and Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) staff.

Up until now, registration for professional membership has been voluntary, but going forward it will be mandatory. In the first year, professional membership will be required for those people on the most senior levels, such as CIOs and CTOs. Following this, registration will be opened up in a phased approach until everyone working in digital healthcare, including students and affiliates, will be required to register by March 2031.

The programme will include Continuing Professional Development (CPD), accreditation pathways and access to national professional communities, in line with other established NHS professions.

The proposal to recognize professional status of digital health and care workers

This register has long been proposed by different professional bodies over the years, but it is only now that it has national support. From the organisation Assist in the 90’s, to the UK Council for Health Informatics Professionals in the 2000’s, there has been a call to recognise professional status in the sector. In the last ten years we have seen real momentum with the different professional bodies joining forces to form the FedIP.

FedIP has created the professional register along with a series of academic programmes that drive education in a structured way. This includes the NHS Digital Academy, Skills Development Networks like the Digital Health Network and Summer School, and many university masters programmes and short courses. The introduction of College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME) into the UK is also an example of a leadership college in this arena.

Why is formal recognition of health and informatics professions important?

For a true profession to exist, it needs to have a critical mass of infrastructure behind it, which has now been formalised for informatics professionals. It will help to increase their success with career progression opportunities and provide professional recognition and status.

When the public engage with the health system today, they expect that the clinical professional they deal with is a professional who is held to a set of standards and is professionally accountable.

Similarly, we know that the money the NHS spends is being managed by people who are professional in the custodianship of public finance. Finance directors and accounts teams are held professionally accountable.

All healthcare practitioners, medicine, nursing, the allied health professionals like physios and OTs, are required to maintain a level of ongoing professional development. In the UK, there is also a long-standing culture of joining professional bodies such as the BMA and RCN. Job roles and titles are clearly defined and standardised and there are training paths, recognised qualifications and options for ongoing skills and career development.

Professionalising healthcare informatics and expertise

Yet, this level of standardisation is not currently happening in the IT space. CPD has been informal, often driven by career ambition or project requirement. This lack of a similar path for IT professionals has resulted in a lack of ‘parity of esteem’, where knowledge and expertise may not necessarily be recognised by healthcare peers and colleagues, despite often working on significant programmes that benefit the organisation and its patients.

This is discussed by Andrew Griffiths, CEO of FEDIP, where he suggests that it is time to further ‘professionalise’ healthcare informatics, similar to the medical profession, with structure and standardisation in qualifications, job titles, role definitions, career paths and professional development.

Professional registration requirements will be a boost for future generations

This new mandate that IT professionals will now require to be professionally registered will, I think, bring seismic change to the sector. Organisations will have to invest in training and development to ensure that employees meet the required standards. This will in turn provide the ability to evidence a professional level and status that is formally recognised.

With an estimated 40,000 working in the NHS in a digital role, this will have a significant impact. Having professional status recognised amongst peers in the healthcare community will help to elevate these roles and attract future generations to the sector.

Professionalism mandates benefit the vendor community

As the mandated professionalism of individuals working in the digital space in the NHS becomes transparent, this will also change the quality of conversation with the vendor community.

It may be a logical next step that the NHS will require the same of its vendor community - asking for their workforce to be professionally registered and for their people to have the same certifications.

Imprivata is taking the lead on professional status for digital health and care workers

There are some forward-thinking vendors who have been supporting the call for professional status for some time. Imprivata has sponsored digital health networks since their inception over a decade ago. It has supported and attended the digital skills development and regional networks, the NHS Digital Academy and has been a supporter of CHIME in the US from their inception.

Without a doubt, professionalising roles in the digital health space is a positive step for healthcare and will result in benefits to the vendor community, both from the individual’s point of view and the outcomes and impact for the NHS organisations.