NHS Trusts are workin’ IT

Unprecedented levels of change within the NHS are leading to a massive upswing in demand for senior technology talent. This is being driven by large IT-related change and transformation projects such as the computerisation of patient records, as well as the imminent replacement of Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Heath Authorities with Clinical Commissioning Groups and Commissioning Support Units.

According to a recent survey carried out by the UK Healthcare Practice of Twenty Recruitment, all of the 50 Trusts polled said that that they expected IT investment to play a significant part in their 2013 budgets. In fact 70 percent said that they were making IT their top priority (compared to 40 percent last year).

When asked about the resourcing of planned projects, almost two-thirds (65 percent) said that they would take a project approach and use contract and interim staff, while just over a third (35 percent) said that they would invest in training for their existing permanent staff.

Jessica Lorimer, senior appointments specialist for Twenty Health, says that there are numerous requirements for Interim Technology Specialists with experience of major change and transformation projects who can impart commercial best practice for better value than an outsourced management consultancy, into what has become a hugely fragmented NHS.

“Whilst there is an obvious need for project managers and business analysts to implement these projects, there is also a shortage of top executive talent – some of the new Clinical Commissioning Groups which come into being on March 31st are missing critical pieces of their Board, so Interim C Level candidates with the right sort of experience are in high demand. Whilst many of the headlines in recent months have been around job cuts and downsizing in the public sector it seems the war for talent – particularly from a technology perspective – is firmly back on the agenda.”