Faculty of Clinical Informatics

Who we are

Everyone in the UK relies on the NHS and social care at some point in their lives.  Technology has the potential to have a major impact across health and care provision so it matters to all of us that more people working in health and social care are well equipped to gather and use data innovatively and effectively.  

But there’s a problem.  The NHS has identified that it needs to increase data related roles by 69% - an extra 32,000 jobs - by 2030 in England alone, as well as supporting people already in health and social care to develop their skills.  The demand is greatest for clinical informaticians where almost 12,000 new roles must be created, an increase of more than 600%. 

The Faculty of Clinical Informatics is at the forefront of solving this problem.  We’re a young organisation, focused on giving professional leadership to clinical informaticians across the UK.  We’ve already recruited 1,000 members from many disciplines, all are health and social care professionals who utilise their specialist knowledge through data, information and information technology, to ensure safe, effective and efficient person-centred care.  Through our influence and the expertise of our members we have a pivotal role in providing guidance on the commissioning, design, development and delivery of health and care information systems to benefit patients and system users.   

The Faculty of Clinical Informatics is the multi-disciplinary professional membership organisation for all those working in digital health and social care across the UK.   

The Faculty was established using funding provided by Health Education England (HEE) in 2017.  In 2019 it became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). It is overseen by a Trustee Board, with clinical informatics professional issues delegated to a Council elected by the membership. Faculty operations are run by the Executive Officers, supported by a small staff team.  

The Faculty’s vision is the creation of a high-quality clinical informatics workforce to improve the safety, effectiveness and efficiency of all health and care services.   

The Faculty has developed a core competencies framework to provide the basis for professionalising the practice of clinical informatics and works with other stakeholders to achieve the vision.  Our role is to: 

• Set the professional educational and training standards for clinical informaticians; 

• Promote the need and value of professionalism for the clinical informatician workforce, including the establishment of a qualification in clinical informatics; 

• Ensure clinical informaticians have sufficient opportunities to obtain the experience they need to develop the expertise required; 

• Accredit clinical informatics learning and development resources;  

• Accredit clinical informaticians to a standard that allows them to become FCI members;   

• Ensure clinical informaticians continue to meet recognised professional education and development standards through appraisal and revalidation.   

The Faculty currently receives around 70% of its income from membership fees and an HEE grant and plans to become self-sufficient by 2025 through growth in membership and development of a range of income sources, including course accreditation, consultancy projects, conferences, clinical informatics learning resources and sponsorship.