Informatics Staff in the NHS

www.hicf.org.uk

The Existing NHS Graduate Management Training
Schemes (GMTS)
• Delivered by the NHSIII in partnership with NHS organisations
• Currently 3 existing specialisms:
– General Management
– Finance
– Human Resources (HR)
• Organised across SHAs
• Each SHA has a GMTS steering group
• Each SHA has a Learning Development Manager (LDM)
• Informatics is working to become the 4 th specialism

Aims of the Graduate Management
Training Programme
• The schemes are part of the Building Leadership Capacity (BLC)
Programme
• The BLC mission statement:
“The Building Leadership Capacity Team exists to guarantee that the NHS has a constant stream of high potential future leaders in the pipeline. Ensuring we attract and develop highly skilled managers from diverse backgrounds who have the potential to go on to achieve senior leadership positions to improve Health and
Healthcare in this country."

Other BLC Programmes
• ‘Breaking Through’
– A scheme to develop leaders from Black and Ethnic Minorities
– http://www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/building_leadership_cap ability/breaking_through_home.html
• ‘Gateway to Leadership’
– A scheme to attract and develop leaders from outside the NHS
– http://www.institute.nhs.uk/building_capability/building_leadership_cap ability/gateway_to_leadership.html

Strategic Positioning
• HI GMTS is part of the wider strategy for the professionalisation of health informatics
• It is one rung on the Career Ladder
• Seeks to contribute to meeting the need for future leaders identified by NHSCFH & ASSIST sponsored research
• Involves multi-stakeholder relationships

The Health Informatics Graduate
Management Training Scheme Pilot
• Based in 3 SHA Areas
– North West
– West Midlands
– Yorks and Humber
• Commenced with first Intake of 12 trainees in October
2007
• Recruited 12 trainees for a 2 nd cohort commencing 6 th
October 2008

2007 Informatics GMTS Cohort

Current Pilot Scheme Structure
• Two 12 month placements with the option of an 8 week flexi at the start of year 2
• Placements are real jobs within the organisation (AFC Band 5)
• The current programme managers are not officially involved
• Placement bids invited from Informatics / Information services within NHS organisations
– 38 organisations bid across the 3 SHA areas offering a combination of over 50 placements
• Trainees are placed with a view to doing one acute and one primary care placement
– World Class Commissioning is heavily information based

Competency Framework
• Providing effective informatics services
• Management of resources & business planning
• Manage finance for your area of responsibility
• Information management
• Information technology service provision (ITIL)
• Project management, business case & benefits realisation
• Assurance processes and audit
• Coding, classifications and grouping
• Commissioning
• Providing business advice to service managers
• Ethics

Competency Framework (cont)
• Personal and professional development
– Planning and the future
– Intellectual flexibility
– Broad scanning
– Political astuteness
– Drive for results
– Leading change through people
– Taking responsibility
– Empowering others
– Effective and strategic influencing
– Collaborative working

Academic Programme (Pilot)
• Trainees complete a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Informatics delivered by UCLan
• Delivered online by WebCT
• 2 residential weekends per year (Spring & Autumn)
• Trainees complete other scheme activities such as personal development modules
• Action Learning Sets have not been used as part of the Pilot

Post Graduate Diploma in Health
Informatics (Pilot)
• Year 1:
– Professional and post graduate study skills
– Information and IT concepts for health & social care
– Informatics for health & social care
• Year 2:
– Knowledge-based management for leaders and managers in health & social care
– Quantitative methodology for health & social care research
– Qualitative methodology for health & social care research
• Assignments & formative assessments

Scheme Development Events
• Approximately 1 day per month
• Enhance / add value to the competency framework
• Expose trainees to learning environments
• Provides networking opportunities
• Fully funded by the pilot scheme

Scheme Development Events
• Personal development modules
– Module 1
• Motivation
• Personal effectiveness
• Work interests
– Module 2
• Communication
• Assertiveness
• Influencing
– Module 3
• Leadership
• Followership
• Building relationships
• Myers Briggs
– Module 4
• Managing change
• Developing networks & partnerships

Scheme Development Events
• PRINCE2 Foundation
• MSP Foundation
• HFMA Introductory Guide to NHS Finance
• Patient Held Records – Dr Amir Hannan
• SNOMED
• NHSCFH Awareness
• Under Consideration for 2008/09:
– ITIL (green badge)
– Technology Updates
– Action Learning Sets
– Still open to offers and suggestions

Planning for 2009
• Key drivers support the development of an informatics graduate specialism
• The Next Stage Review (Darzi)
• The Health Informatics Review (Swindells)
• The World Class Commissioning Agenda
• The informatics professionalisation agenda
• The successful delivery of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) by NHS Connecting for Health

2009
• Business plan under consideration for Informatics to become the
4 th graduate training specialism from 2009
• Funding is nearly confirmed
• Going ahead with a new intake in September 2009
• Either 20 or 30 trainees spread across 10 SHA areas so a maximum of 3 trainees per SHA initially doubling to 6 overlapping with the 2010 intake
• The specialism will be fully integrated with the existing scheme
• APPLICATIONS FOR SEPTEMBER 2009 ARE OPEN NOW

In Conclusion
• We will not meet all the future leadership development needs of health informatics
• However,
• We are making a start
• We hope that our success will grow
• We hope that we will begin to influence the structure at the top of organisations
• We believe that we will be making a real difference that will ripple out

Contact details for further information
Patrick Dodge
Programme Manager
Patrick.dodge@institute.nhs.uk
0161 2372873
07789 653338 www.nhsleadtheway.co.uk