Mental health trust appoints CCIO

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust has appointed a consultant psychiatrist as chief clinical information officer.

The West Midlands trust says the appointment of Dr James Reed underlines its commitment to clinical leadership of technology and information.

“There has been a national drive to increase the number of CCIOs in NHS organisations, and this new role will focus on ensuring that clinical leadership is central to the way the trust manages its information systems,” a trust statement says.

“Dr Reed will support the safe and efficient design, implementation and use of informatics to deliver improvements in the quality and outcomes of care.”

The new CCIO will work closely with the chief information officer and medical director to ensure that the trust’s ICT strategy reflects clinical as well as organisational priorities.

Dr Reed has been a central clinical lead for the implementation of the RiO electronic patient record system across all services in the trust and worked on its e-prescribing project.

Future programmes of work include the drive to introduce mobile and remote working and delivering the trust’s paperless ambitions.

Dr Reed said he has had a keen interest in IT for many years.

“I have an understanding of both clinical and technical issues and in this exciting new role I’ll be a bridge between the two and will ensure that the views of clinicians, as well as their innovative ideas, are taken forward as part of the organisation’s ICT strategy,” he said.

Executive medical director, Dr Peter Lewis, said: “Technology is having a growing impact on the way we provide care and increasingly is a means by which we can improve the quality of our services.

“The appointment of a CCIO will ensure that we have direct clinical involvement in technology and information to ensure that quality of care for our service users is at the heart of our ICT development.”