Dr Simon Eccles has announced he is leaving his role as chief clinical information officer (CCIO) at NHS England and NHS Improvement to return to his clinical roots.

In an email seen by Healthcare IT News, Eccles said he would be resuming his position as an emergency-medicine hospital consultant at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, following four years as CCIO for health and care.

WHY IT MATTERS

Eccles departs after helping to set up NHSE’s new transformation directorate, which aims to bring together digital and operational improvement teams within NHSE and NHS Improvement, with the aim of continuing the rapid transformation achieved during the COVID pandemic.

“After extending my secondment from Tommy’s in order to help with the transition from NHSX to the transformation directorate, my secondment has now come to an end,” Eccles wrote in the staff email.

“I first got involved with the national programme for IT 17 years ago with a remit to help put EPRs [electronic patient records] into every hospital. That still resonates with the learning from the Wachter review to guide us,” he added.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Interim arrangements were recently revealed for the new transformation directorate, which will incorporate both NHSX and NHS Digital. NHSX chief executive officer (CEO) Matthew Gould will remain national director for digital transformation and as a director general within Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) with oversight of the joint digital policy and strategy team. 

ON THE RECORD

Eccles said: “It has been a real pleasure to work with you as we led digitisation across health and care, developed the clinical informatics profession, established our pandemic clinical care processes, delivered digital primary care, expanded our digital channels, and described the transformation approach for digital child health, maternity care and national screening.” 

Tim Ferris, director of transformation, NHS England, said: “Simon has been a strong advocate of digital tools’ power to help patients and clinicians and he has made a big difference, particularly in helping set up national COVID-19 testing capability during the pandemic. Simon brought his clinical experience to every discussion, helping the team understand the potential impact of different approaches on both patients and clinicians.”

Alex Crossley, chief of staff for digital transformation, NHS, said: “Simon was a constant source of advice to me when I joined the NHS; he has been instrumental in building NHSX; he set up our clinical workstream during the pandemic; he led the customer experience for Test & Trace, playing a key role in establishing the national testing capability; and he has helped lay the foundations for the transformational directorate.

“There is much to be proud of, and Simon’s work in digital transformation for the NHS will be felt for years to come. The work he and his teams have done have touched the lives of millions of patients throughout this country.”