Mater Health Services CIO Mal Thatcher and Queensland Health’s senior director of program delivery Paul Carroll have been appointed on a short-term basis to the roles of chief health information officer (CHIO) and chief technology officer (CTO) with the Queensland department of health.
Mr Thatcher will act in the new role CHIO for 12 months while continuing his position at Mater, where he has been CIO since 2004.
Mr Carroll will temporarily take on the CTO role, which Queensland Health director-General Ian Maynard said was largely focused on operations and program delivery.
Mr Carroll has extensive experience in pathology and radiology information systems and was a member of NEHTA’s diagnostic services reference group.
The two new positions were created following a recommendation in Queensland Health’s 10-year ICT strategic roadmap. The CHIO position has been defined as a purely strategic one, while the CTO will be in charge of delivery.
Queensland Health’s former CIO, Ray Brown, stood down in July after five years in the position.
Queensland follows NSW in its decision to expand the CIO role into two positions. NSW Health has set up a dedicated eHealth division and recently appointed Michael Walsh as CEO and CIO, with intensive care specialist John Lambert appointed as chief clinical information officer (CCIO).
Source: Pulse + IT