Health Informatics is a career for the future

A report on the future of health informatics as a career will be published by E-Health insider at its Healthcare IM&T Careers 2008 event in London next Wednesday (24 September).

The report, sponsored by Elan Health, pulls together all the most up to date information about the future of the profession. Free copies will be available for all visitors to the event which will be held at the Institute of Directors.

Health Informatics: a career for the future shows that health informatics professionals are already in high demand, with shortages at all levels of expertise.

Currently, there are 25,000 people working in health informatics in England. But a June 2008 report from the Association for Informatics Professionals in Health and Social Care (ASSIST) found vacancy rates ranging from 16% for clinical informatics staff to 6% for senior staff.

ASSIST predicted future skills shortages in information analysis, business and systems analysis, ICT and system trainers – all of which will be required as the NHS moves into its next phase of development.

This is backed up by e-Skills Sector Skills Council project figures, which show that by 2010 the health sector will need 300,000 super users and between 800,000 and 1.3m NHS staff will need to be competent in data handling.

In July 2008, the Health Informatics Review also identified shortages of key professionals, including data security specialists. 

Addressing all these issues will require a sustained training and education drive. But the report also outlines some of the exciting HI challenges around the corner, such as helping to develop the personalised NHS and personalised medicine.

Linda Davidson, director of EHI, said: “There’s never been a better time to be making a move into health informatics. The jobs are out there, in the NHS and academia as well as the commercial sector.”

Healthcare IM&T Careers 2008 is a free, one day event for IT professionals and students. Visitors will have an opportunity to meet employers, education providers and professional associations to explore some of the opportunities presented by the profession. There will also be seminars on career-related themes. 

Register at: www.ehicareersforum.com