NHS England creates new chief information and technology officer role

New IT leader will take on duties that were carried out by Tim Kelsey, who resigned in September

NHS England has created a new chief information and technology officer (CITO) role, which will see someone lead the IT agenda within the organisation, and replace the outgoing national director for patients and information, Tim Kelsey.

The decision was confirmed in a leaked email from the organisation's chief executive, Simon Stevens, seen by Government Computing. NHS England has confirmed that the email was legitimate, but said it had nothing further to add about the role.

The email suggests that the CITO will support local health and care systems to implement core digital standards and transform public access to information tools and services.

He or she will take responsibility for commissioning "modern data services" designed to provide patients, commissioners and clinicians with analytic resources and technology programmes that will support their needs based around primary care and future care models.

Although there was no mention of the controversial care.data programme - the CITO will have to lead development around transparency, which the scheme has clearly lacked - and the CITO will work closely with the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), which is involved in running care.data alongside NHS England.

There is no set timetable for when the NHS would like to appoint the CITO, but Kelsey will be leaving at the end of December.

Replacing Kelsey

When Kelsey resigned from his post in September, Stevens gave Kelsey credit for driving the case for "open, transparent and technology-enabled health services".

But despite some success stories, there have been several failures too. Most notably, NHS Choices, the national health-information service, which was given a "red" status by the Major Projects Authority earlier this year, while NHS England's Health Apps Library has also caused controversy.

But under Kelsey's stewardship, no programme has caused more debate than care.data. Most recently, it was revealed that HSCIC was still sharing the data of patients who had opted out of the scheme.