08.09.17
Digital Academy aims to train 300 leaders by 2020
The NHS Digital Academy has ambitious plans to train 300 digital leaders by 2020, and support a network of passionate informatics professionals who have the right skills and vision to accelerate the digital transformation of the NHS, according to the organisation’s new CEO.
Writing in the digital transformation blog, Rachel Dunscombe, who is also director of digital at Salford Royal NHS FT and Pennine Acute Hospital Trust, stated that following last year’s Wachter Review, the newly-formed Academy’s ambition is to “nurture strong digital leaders who are capable of delivering transformational change so that patient care”.
“We’re doing this by offering the first-ever national, fully funded development programme in change management, leadership and clinical informatics,” she said, adding that the target for training 300 digital leaders is a “bold challenge”.
The Academy’s end goal is a bespoke programme for digital leaders in health and care; one that understands and responds to the real challenges they face.
Last month it was revealed that the Digital Academy will be led by three of the world’s best universities – Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation, the University of Edinburgh and Harvard Medical School in the US – in a bid to equip healthcare staff with the right skills to boost digital innovation.
“Just as important as people’s personal development is the wider impact that the Academy will have on the profession as a whole,” noted Dunscombe. “It’s a big thing for the field of health and care informatics, as it recognises the importance of CIOs, CCIOs and those delivering digital roles to the NHS, and demonstrates that they’re worthy of investment.
“Also, the Academy will place a lot of emphasis on working together as professionals to provide peer support and critique. We will facilitate the development of a self-sustaining, professional alumni network, as it’s important to us that people continue to work together and support each other long after they’ve left the Academy.”
She hopes the Academy will also play a major contribution in the shift towards maturity for the digital profession in the NHS.
“I like to use the analogy of the nursing profession, which professionalised and moved to a formal qualification structure from the early 2000s,” she explained. “As a profession it is now rock solid: with a strong professional body, and a clear career pathway supported by accreditation and many CPD opportunities.
“There are already many fantastic projects and pockets of activity working towards this end goal of professionalising informatics, and we are very excited to be joining them.”
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an NHE columnist? If so, click here.