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ASSIST Health Informatics Workforce Survey. Brian Derry ASSIST Vice Chair Director of Informatics The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust brian.derry@leedsth.nhs.uk. The plan…. Survey methodology Survey findings Conclusions and recommendations Next steps. Survey objectives.
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ASSIST Health Informatics Workforce Survey Brian Derry ASSIST Vice Chair Director of Informatics The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust brian.derry@leedsth.nhs.uk www.assist.org.uk
The plan… • Survey methodology • Survey findings • Conclusions and recommendations • Next steps www.assist.org.uk
Survey objectives Provide up-to-date information on the NHS HI workforce in England to: • Support workforce planning – capacity & skills • Assess impact of Agenda for Change • Inform progress towards a formal HI profession www.assist.org.uk
How? • Web-based form • To informatics leads via SHA CIOs • Supported by NHS CFH & the Information Centre for Health & Social Care • Carried out for ASSIST by Tribal Consulting following competitive tender www.assist.org.uk
Who & when • NHS organisations in England (separate surveys for Wales & Scotland) • March-July 2006 • 111 (24%) responded • Covered 6,000 HI staff – MIC categories: • ICT • IM, split between Clinical Coders and “others” • Knowledge Management • Health Records • Clinical Informatics • Senior Managers www.assist.org.uk
What? • HI workforce size and composition • Recruitment & retention • Skills shortages • Views on professionalism • AfC job evaluation results • Perceptions of current life in HI www.assist.org.uk
Results… • Survey estimates • Sample size and non-response • Consistent picture…. www.assist.org.uk
Recruitment andRetention www.assist.org.uk
“Its hard to get good people; even harder to keep them.” www.assist.org.uk
HI staff in post and vacancies 4 % About 25,000 in total 12 % 5 % 6 % 9 % 5 % 4 % www.assist.org.uk
Recruitment & retention www.assist.org.uk
Skills shortages www.assist.org.uk
Agenda for Change www.assist.org.uk
AfC contentious? www.assist.org.uk
AfC appeals www.assist.org.uk
Professionalisation www.assist.org.uk
Support for a formal HI profession? www.assist.org.uk
…Yes but no! www.assist.org.uk
Regulation? www.assist.org.uk
Perceptions of HI -1 • “Still poorly understood & appreciated as a profession” • “ICT is not taken seriously by the NHS” • Organisational change & financial position means no development & no recruitment” • Not enough staff to support national roll outs & implementations” • Staff are starting to leave the NHS in the hope of more security & better paid jobs elsewhere” www.assist.org.uk
Perceptions of HI -2 • “Shortages are ever present (not seen as an essential requirement as they do not provide patient care)” • “What is this nonsense about mandatory professional qualifications – it smacks of protectionism & self-interest” www.assist.org.uk
Surrounded by friends? www.assist.org.uk
Conclusions & recommendations • Workforce planning needed urgently • Systematic assessment of need – numbers & skills • Education, training & development • More regular surveys www.assist.org.uk
Conclusions & recommendations • Recruitment & retention – morale & pay • AfC!!! • National recruitment & retention premia • Whole package of benefits • Marketing HI • AfC – local understanding & KSF/NOS/CPD • Formal profession www.assist.org.uk
Getting from… • An embattled group of staff, unvalued & with low morale • Recognised – and treated as – professionals crucial to patient care and NHS modernisation? www.assist.org.uk
A rose…. Defines a “profession”? • Health Informatics is: "The knowledge, skills and tools that enable information to be collected, managed, used and shared to support the delivery of healthcare and to promote health and wellbeing.“1 1 Making Information Count, 2002 All levels, eg casual spreadsheet user ? All areas, finance, HR…? www.assist.org.uk
MIC: ICT IM (inc Clinical Coders) Knowledge Management Health Records Senior Managers Clinical Informatics UKCHIP adds: ETD Research Taxonomy cutting? Function Activity Grade “Clinician Informatics”? - background www.assist.org.uk
Implications of current definition of Health Informatics • Mixed concepts • Not intuitive or widely understood • Indistinct and heterogeneous • Alienates core specialists • Hampering development of “profession” and clear professional identity www.assist.org.uk
Time for a debate about a new rose? "The specialised use of ICT & analysis of patient information in healthcare services." www.assist.org.uk
Do the survey findings strike a chord? • What should ASSIST’s priorities be? • New definition of Health Informatics? www.assist.org.uk