St John creates new CIO role

St John New Zealand has created a new role for CIO, reporting to the CEO.

“The technological face of healthcare is moving quickly, and we need an innovator and expert to steer this ship from an IT perspective,” the not-for-profit organisation stated on its website.

The current chief executive Peter Bradley joined St John last year, from the London Ambulance Service (LAS), where he was CEO. The St John website says Bradley started his career as an ambulance officer in Auckland and worked his way up to become regional director of ambulance services for the Northern Region. He completed his MBA at the University of Otago, and was headhunted by the LAS.

“Previously the St John ICT team has been part of a wider finance, admin and ICT function,” says Bradley on the creation of the role.

“The move to have ICT as a distinct function reflects the specialised technological leadership we require in a challenging and changing environment where we are the largest primary healthcare provider in the country. The ICT team supports the systems and technology that in turn support frontline crews who treat and transport over 400,000 patients each year, and our communications centres handling over 360,000 111 emergency call for ambulance, each year,” says Bradley.

“In addition to improving the quality of internal support services and information management the CIO will be tasked with ensuring continuous improvement of our performance and capability and on integration with our health partners.”

“An example of that integration is the electronic patient report forms project we are leading for the ambulance sector, which will improve the quality and safety of our care and services and patients’ experiences – because we’ll have clear information that we can link up with other Health providers.”

St John is number 70 in the CIO100, the annual report on the top ICT using organisations in New Zealand.

The most senior ICT post is now held by Peter McDowall, ICT director. He reports to the CEO and has a 50-member IS shop managing over 2500 screens. See CIO100 2013 report

Some of the responsibilities of the incoming CIO are:

#8226;Implement the recommendations of the ICT systems review

#8226;Implement new electronic patient report form being rolled out to front-line staff

#8226;Update mobile data terminals in the ambulance fleet

#8226;Upgrade ambulance computer-aided dispatch system

#8226;Manage systems development to ensure alignment to business objectives

#8226;Develop and implement key strategies to manage risk and compliance, associated with ICT systems and support.

St John said the candidate must have significant demonstrated experience in leading and managing the ICT of a large and complex organisation, and delivering on time within budget.

A candidate with a degree or advanced professional qualification in IT is preferred for the role, that will be based in Auckland.

Applications close on 2 September.