A new CIO and Director of IT Programme and System delivery are being sought by the U.K. Department of Health (DoH) as a result of Richard Granger’s departure in January.
In a statement the Department of Health said: “As part of the ongoing review into effective information use, the Department is refocusing the strategic leadership of IT. We are currently recruiting for two new senior management positions that will allow us to focus on the most effective use of IT across the Department and the wider NHS.”
The two roles will be: CIO for Health and Director of IT Programme and System Delivery. The CIO for Health will be responsible for “focus on the big picture of delivering our overall IT vision,” the DoH said.
Management of the NHS Connecting for Health program, which is responsible for the National Programme for IT, will fall into the role of the Director of IT Programme and System Delivery. Both roles are advertised with salaries of UK$200,000.
Granger stood down as Director General of IT on January 31, 2008 following a high profile resignation last year. It has been reported that he was the highest paid civil servant in the U.K.
Earlier this month Matthew Swindells, who took over the reigns from Granger in an interim role, resigned to join the consultancy sector. Gordon Hextall is currently the interim Director of Programme and Systems Delivery, a role he will continue with under the new interim Director General of Informatics Sir Bruce Keogh, who was appointed earlier this week.
Keogh is the National Medical Director, a role he retains alongside his informatics responsibilities and will return to when the new CIO is in place.
Mid-market newspaper The Times, which belongs to Australian Rupert Murdoch, is scathing of the two roles and their respective salaries. It describes the situation as “too big for one boss.”
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