The Department of Health has appointed Christine
Connelly, a former chief information officer at Cadbury Schweppes,
as the first CIO for Health, in a job expected to carry a salary of
at least £200,000.
The NHS's £12.7bn
National Programme for IT (NPfIT) - the UK's largest IT
programme - will be only part of her responsibilities.
David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, is expected to
remain the overall senior responsible owner of the
NPfIT.
Reporting to Connelly will be Martin Bellamy, director of
programme and system delivery, who will run NHS Connecting for
Health, which is partly responsible for the NPfIT. Bellamy has been
working for the Department for Work and Pensions since 2003, his
main role being CIO of the Pension Service. His salary will also be
around £200,000.
The appointments mean that the job of Richard Granger, who was
director general of NHS IT and head of Connecting for Health, has
been split into two. Granger, who was the highest paid Whitehall
civil servant, left earlier this year.
The DoH said Connelly would focus on developing and delivering
its overall information strategy and integrating leadership across
the NHS and associated bodies, including NHS Connecting for Health
and the Information Centre.
Bellamy will lead NHS Connecting for Health and focus on
enhancing partnerships with and within the NHS.