The Health Minster has announced the appointment of Dr Paul Rice
as Chief Digital Information Officer (CDIO) in the Department of
Health (DoH).
With over 25 years of experience in the NHS, Dr Rice took up post
at the start of June and is responsible for leading the
continuation of progress towards digitisation of health and care
digital systems in Northern Ireland. He will also be the Senior
Information Risk Officer (SIRO) for DoH, and the leader of
Digital Health and Care Northern Ireland (DHCNI).
Health Minister said: “I am very
pleased to welcome Dr Paul Rice as our new CDIO. Paul brings a
wealth of experience in digital transformation across health and
social care, including the successful delivery of major national
NHS programmes.
“His leadership in implementing hospital electronic
patient records, enhancing primary care workflows, and deploying
innovative technologies to support clinical, operational and
administrative staff will be an invaluable asset to the role. I
look forward to working closely with him.”
Most recently, Dr Rice held the CDIO position at both Bradford
Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Airedale NHS
Foundation Trust in West Yorkshire. Immediately prior to this he
was the Regional Director of Digital Transformation for NHS
England and Improvement in the Northeast and Yorkshire.
Dr Paul Rice said: “I am delighted to take on the role of the
DoH's CDIO at such a vital time. The introduction of encompass
across the five geographically defined Health and Social Care
Trusts has given us a unique opportunity to lead the way in
innovation and deliver genuinely digitally enabled health and
social care.
“I am very optimistic, building on this platform, that we will
improve the working life of colleagues and positively impact
outcomes for patients. Access to high quality actionable data
will inform service planning reflective of need. We can be at the
forefront of life sciences research, and digital and data
supported transformation.
“Having worked in various roles across the NHS in England, I
expect to bring some of that experience and insights from across
the globe to this role, continuing to build on the great work
already started.”
Notes to editors:
- Dr Paul Rice previously held the same portfolio at board
level in Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust in West Yorkshire. Paul had
previously been the Regional Director of Digital Transformation
for NHS England and Improvement in the Northeast and Yorkshire.
He has been the senior responsible owner for substantial national
digital transformation programmes in the NHS, delivering hospital
electronic patient records, technologies to support nurses'
release time to care, Primary Care clinical and operational
workflow innovations and change programmes in maternal and child
health.
- Paul holds a first class BA joint honours degree in Law and
Accounting (Manchester), a Masters degree in Informatics
Leadership (Imperial) and a Doctorate in Medical Law and
Bioethics (Manchester). He is also a graduate of the Said
Business School (Oxford), where he completed the Major Projects
Leadership Academy Cabinet Office Executive Programme, and a
Fellow of the British Computing Society. Paul was a trustee of
Yorkshire Cancer Research and remains a volunteer fundraiser with
Macmillan Cancer Support.