Vision
Health Informatics comprises the knowledge, skills and tools which enable information to be
collected, managed, used and shared safely to support the delivery of healthcare and promote
health.
Its principal function is to improve the care given to patients by:

overcoming fragmentation in care delivery

embedding quality and safety

helping to manage costs
The UK Council for Health Informatics Professions (UKCHIP) is the regulatory body for health
informatics professionals working or aspiring to work in the United Kingdom.
UKCHIP’s vision is:
That health informatics is recognised as a valued profession in both the public and
private health care sectors throughout the United Kingdom.
That all persons in the United Kingdom who spend a substantial proportion of their role
or time working in health informatics shall be registered with UKCHIP and thereby
certified as professionals who meet defined standards of professional conduct and
competence.
All UKCHIP’s activities are directed towards achieving this vision which will enable:

better patient safety and protection of the public;

increased public confidence in health advice and information;

more efficient and effective design, development and delivery of health services.
The value of registration with UKCHIP can be expressed from a number of perspectives:
As a patient and/or member of the public you will know that:

your personal information will be held securely and safely with due regard to your rights to
access your own information;

clinical staff are supported in their use of knowledge, information and ICT systems by
certificated professionals;

ICT and information systems in health are developed, implemented and managed by high
quality, competent professionals who have signed up to a professional code of conduct and are
staying up to date in their areas of expertise.
As a healthcare professional:

you can expect to receive support for the effective, safe and timely use of knowledge bases,
information and ICT systems from competent professionals who understand both informatics
and its application in health.
As an employer of people working in health informatics:

you will know that your informatics specialists have been assessed independently against
agreed national standards and be able to view the open register of certificated informatics
professionals;

you will know that your informatics specialists have signed up to a professional code of conduct
and to an annual programme of continuous professional development.
As a person working in health informatics:

you will be able to demonstrate to your employer, peers and others through your entry on the
public register that you are an informatics professional;

you will be able to demonstrate that you are fit to practice, abide by a professional code of
conduct and ethics and are committed to ongoing and structured professional development in
the interests of providing safe, effective and high quality services to support patient care.
Realising the Vision
UKCHIP serves patients and the public by promoting their health, care, safety and well-being
through the strong and independent certification1 of health informatics professionals. It will realise
its vision by:

promoting the advancement and dissemination of knowledge about health informatics, both
generally and among persons belonging to the profession and other professions;

working with others to define and agree the standards of professional conduct and competence
required of persons working in health informatics in the United Kingdom, both in terms of core
requirements and such additional requirements relevant to any branch or constituency of health
informatics;

publishing and maintaining a register of all persons who have been assessed against and
reached the standards required to practice as a health informatics professional in the United
Kingdom;

demonstrating its own professional authority and legitimacy through accreditation2 of its
organisational processes and procedures against ISO/IEC 17024:2003 with the UK Accreditation
Service (UKAS). In the long term, UKCHIP could potentially operate under the Council for
Healthcare Regulatory Excellence3.
Registration with UKCHIP, which is an individual aspiration, will be undertaken voluntarily within an
environment where registration is preferred by relevant employing and contracting organisations. In
due course, professional registration could be required by statute or legislation for anyone wishing
to work in health informatics.
Applications for registration with UKCHIP will be approved only following qualified assessment
against defined professional standards and competences.
A person’s registration will be retained only by adequate demonstration that defined professional
standards and competences are being maintained, together with evidence of continuing
professional development.
A person’s registration will be withdrawn in cases where levels of competence and professional
development are not maintained, where contravention of the professional Code of Conduct is
proven or where allegations or complaints against a registrant are upheld by Council.
For further information, visit the website at: www.ukchip.org
To contact the UKCHIP Secretary, email:
1
secretary@ukchip.net
Certification is the establishment of standards and assessment against those standards.
2
Accreditation is assessment of an organisation and its processes through external validation. ISO/IEC
17024:2003 is the international standard which sets out criteria for an organisation's certification program for
individual persons.
3
Section 29 of the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002 gives the CHRE
powers and responsibilities for protecting the public. Since April 2009, under their new powers within Section
115 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, the CHRE have also audited the decisions made by regulators at
the initial stages of their Fitness to Practise procedures.