Need for health informatics skills changes education and career paths in public health

Health informatics are crucial for future development, and there is a risk that these skills may be lost if not supported in career terms, or if constrained by issues around data access (e.g. inability to access information you need).

The need for specialist skills will increase, especially given large amounts of data, the need for detailed understanding and techniques to use it effectively. There are questions around how data is used, i.e. whether for intelligence to support strategy or purely for performance management. It will be important to ensure that we are asking the right questions.

Public health teams need to be the conduit between health and social care, and data is the obvious mechanism to do that. There is also a need for clarity around who does what within the system as there is a risk of duplication, particularly around intelligence teams and the resources are available to specialists.

There may need to be greater thinking around career pathways: for example, is there a way for people outside specialist ranks to progress, as many in health informatics have expert skills which may not be adequately recognised in training.  There may be a call for an undergraduate degree that provides a route in and could link to public health careers and a Masters.

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.