UK appoints first clinical director for informatics

The UK's Department of Health has appointed its first national clinical director for informatics, Charles Gutteridge. Mr Gutteridge, who is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and previously chaired the Association of UK University Hospitals Medical Directors, will lead in liaising with clinicians to ensure that informatics, such as computer science, provides critical and responsive services to patient care. The role is initially for a two-year period. At the end of last year, Mr Gutteridge stepped down from his role as medical director at Barts and The London Trust, where he had worked since 2002; he will take up his new clinical director role this month.