What is the FEDIP Occupational Architecture (OA)?
It is a cohesive framework of job roles within the digital health and care landscape. There are currently 14 job families. The OA is an innovative new database designed to consolidate job roles into families. It aims to provide transparency on the skills and qualifications required for each job role, along with suggested training materials.
What is it based on?
Seven of the job families are based upon the Government’s Digital and Data (GDaD) Capability Framework – Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework – Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework.
The additional seven job families do not sit within GDaD and have been created by the professional bodies within FEDIP, recognising that these job families also sit within the digital professional landscape (or sectors).
What other Frameworks have been used?
The Skills for the Information Age (SFIA)
SFIA has become the globally accepted common language for the skills and competencies for the digital world. For further information about SFIA please visit How SFIA works – Levels of responsibility and skills — English
The National Competency Framework (NCF)
The NCF has been created to guide Data Professionals in Health and Care and to promote the professional profile ensuring those working in the field have access to innovative skills mixes. The competency framework is designed to show what sort of activities the workforce should be capable of at a defined level. For further information please visit NCF_Framework_Booklet.pdf
BCS Faculty of Clinical Informatics Core Competency Framework (CCF)
The CCF sets out a core common set of competencies required for a clinical informatician to effectively perform, regardless of the health or care background which they have entered the field, or their current area of practice within this diverse field. The competency framework has been structured around four key areas: (1) data and technologies; (2) health context; (3) people and; (4) leadership and management. For further information please visit UoM Faculty of Clinical Informatics Competency Framework 230720 Final DOI
Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB)
The PSKB has been created by CILIP – the Library and Information Association, it has been developed in consultation with employers, practitioners, sector experts and learning providers. The framework is recognised as the foundation of learning and skills development for the profession. At the heart of the PKSB is a set of ethics and values which a range of generic skills and professional expertise are built around. For further information please visit Professional Knowledge & Skills Base – CILIP: the library and information association
Why do we need the OA?
The OA brings together existing frameworks as well as specialist frameworks specific to digital in health and care into a unified database.
With the evolution and growth of digital roles, these positions have undergone changes, mergers, and adaptions to meet different organisation needs. This has resulted in a myriad of job titles and roles with slight variations, inconsistent bandings, and roles sitting at various levels within organisations. The OA aims to provide transparency on the skills and competencies required for each job role within the digital profession.
Who has been involved in the OA
There has been a great deal of interest in the OA with organisations and expert groups being involved in creating job roles.
FEDIP has taken a lead on this piece of work, so each of the professional bodies are involved and they are:
- The Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts (AphA)
- The Chartered Institute of IT (BCS)
- The College of Healthcare Information Management Executive (CHIME)
- The Library and Information Association (CILIP)
- The Institute of Health Records and Information Management (IHRIM)
Other organisations involved are:
- NHS England (NHSE)
- Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW)
- Digital Health and Care Northern Ireland
- NHS Improvement (NHSI)
- Royal College of Nursing
- Specialist Expert Groups
- AnalystX
- Information Governance
- Cyber Security
What has been the process to create the OA?
There have been a number of separate processes that have been adopted.
- For the GDaD job roles, these were taken from the Government’s Framework and created within RoleModel Plus, a piece of software that BCS uses, and mapped to the SFIA framework. These roles were then uploaded to the FEDIP website FEDIP Job Profiles and feedback sought.
- Where the job roles did not exist within the GDaD Capability Framework, expert groups were invited along to a workshop where outline drafts were created using specialist knowledge frameworks and then mapped to SFIA. These were presented back to the experts where fine tuning of the job roles took place. These roles were then uploaded to the FEDIP website and feedback sought.
- Job descriptions for a particular role were sought from a number of organisations, outline drafts were created using specialist knowledge frameworks and then mapped to SFIA. These were presented back to experts where fine tuning of the job roles took place. These roles were then uploaded to the FEDIP website and feedback sought.
How do I give feedback on the job roles?
At the end of each job role on the website there is a feedback form with a designated field aligned to each of the sections. Individuals can give feedback on any or all of the job role.
What happens to my feedback?
Each of the professional bodies has responsibility for a job family. Once feedback has been given on a job role, it is passed onto the appropriate professional body to review. The review is then presented to the FEDIP Professional Development Committee to ensure that the feedback does not affect any other job roles. Feedback is either approved or not approved. Feedback is shared with any of the expert groups. Review comments are given back to those who provided the feedback.
Can I change anything in the job roles?
Changes cannot be made to any of the GDaD job roles as they are the intellectual property of the Government.
Changes to any of the job roles in the Additional Families may be considered and effected through the feedback process. The professional bodies will bring together experts to review the proposed changes.
How often will the job roles be updated?
It is anticipated that feedback on the job roles will be a continuous process, but accepted and agreed changes will only be made quarterly. Changes will be highlighted on the OA website. Release notes will be issued informing of the changes made Updates – FEDIP Job Profiles
How is the OA to be used?
There are a number of ways that the OA can be used:
- The Digital Skills Development Network [www.skillsdevelopmentnetwork.com] are basing the Digital Census on the Occupational Architecture. Access to the data compiled from the census can be provided by contacting christinebanks@nhs.net or Vikki.hilton-greenhalgh@nhs.net. It provides a common language to assess those working in the digital service.
- It can be used in organisational restructures or mergers, where IT operations or technical teams are merging.
- It can be used in all elements of recruitment to identify skills and competencies for new roles to help shape job adverts and interview questions.
- In career progression, looking at future roles and mapping skills needed, gap analysis and then to create development plans.
- To become professionally registered with a professional body and being registered on the FEDIP public register as part of personal development.
What the job roles are not
The job roles are not job descriptions.
They describe the minimum skills and competencies that experts believe that the role requires for someone to operate capably and at a certain level.
How do I use the job roles?
Once you have identified the job role that best aligns with your current job role or a role you are designing, you select the skills and competencies that you are looking for in this post.
You will then need to apply the context of your own organisation as this will be different, for example someone might be working in a mental health Trust as opposed to working in a central team. The job role might have a team that they are responsible for, or they may be expected to travel between sites. All of this needs to be added to the job roles to bring this to life.
Do the job roles have Agenda for Change bands?
No, they don’t. However, FEDIP has been working closely with the Department of Health and Care Wales to match the job roles through the Agenda for Change process for their organisation.
DHCW are willing to share these bandings with FEDIP once they are consistency checked and FEDIP will use these as indicative bandings for the job roles.
NHS Employers advised FEDIP that each organisation must put the job roles through their own Agenda for Change panels to reach the appropriate banding as the risk sits with individual organisations.
What happens if I can’t see my job role in the OA?
Each organisation will need to map their existing job roles into the Occupational Architecture. This will also help when it comes to responding to the Digital Census in March 2025 for those organisations taking part.
To give an example an EPR Manager is not in the OA, this would map across to a Product Manager.
You may also find that one person carries out two job roles, in smaller organisations, in which case you will select the skills and competencies from a number of job roles. Another reason for each organisation carrying out their own Agenda for Change panel matching exercise.
Who has contributed to the OA?
| Amita | Aggarwal | Policy and Strategy, NHS England / Chair Digital Medicines | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Oluwatosin | Akinlabi | Clinical Safety Officer, University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Sebastian | Alexander | Clinical Safety Officer, NHS England | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles / Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Christine | Banks | North West Development Manager, Digital Skills Development Network | DDaT Census in NHS Trusts in England |
| Peter | Barfield | Digital Clinical Specialist Nurse & Clinical Safety, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Andrew | Barraclough | FEDIP – Professional Development Committee | AphA – Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts – data job roles |
| Frances | Beadle | Digital Health Care and Wales | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Dorthy | Bean | Senior Clinical Lead, Transformation Directorate, NHS England | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Kim | Bellis | FEDIP – Management Board / Professional Development Committee | Programme Managfer for the Occupational Architecture / Previous Records Management and Data Quality NHS experience |
| Sarah | Blundell | AnalystX – NHS England | Working with FEDIP on the data job roles |
| Claire | Buchner | Assistant Director Digital Health and Nursing, Northern Ireland | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Mandy | Burns | FEDIP – Management Board / Professional Development Committee | IHRIM – Institute of Health Records and Information Management – Patient Services job roles |
| Kevin | Caldwell | NHS Somerset ICB | IG job roles |
| Rebecca | Campbell | NHS England | NHS England point of contact |
| Nicole | Church | BCS | Operations Manager overseeing part of the project |
| Faye | Clough | Radiographer/Clinical Safety Officer, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Suzanne | Crutchley | Liverpool University Hospital NHS Trust | IG job roles |
| Anne Marie | Cunningham | GP, Northern Ireland | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Kimberley | Dawson | Senior Digital Clinical Safety Officer, Bedfordshire NHS Foundation Trust | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Alison | Day | NHS England | Early stages of engagement on the Knowledge Management and Library Services job roles |
| Wendy | Dearing | FEDIP – Management Board / Professional Development Committee | University of Wales, Trinity St Davids |
| Arjun | Dillon | Deputy CCIO, NHS England | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Jane | Dwelly | FEDIP – Management Board / Professional Development Committee | CHIME – The College of Healthcare Information Management Executive – Leadership job roles |
| Peggy | Edwards | CNIO, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Raz | Edwards | Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | IG job roles |
| Louise | Goswami | NHS England | Early stages of engagement on the Knowledge Management and Library Services job roles |
| Andrew | Griffiths | FEDIP – Management Board / Professional Development Committee | Previous CIO Wales NHS Experience |
| Julia | Gudgeon | Chief Midwifery Officer, NHS England | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Julie | Hall | Associate Director of Education (Clinical Coding), IHRIM | Clinical Coding job roles |
| Deborah | Harris | NHS England (plus her network of IG specialists) | Working with FEDIP on the Information Governance job roles |
| Balsdon | Helen | Interim CNIO, NHS England | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Lesley | Holdsworth | Occupational Therapist, Scotland | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Jan | Hoogewerf | FEDIP – Management Board / Professional Development Committee | BCS – Chartered Institute of IT – GDaD and Leadership job roles |
| Ben | Jeeves | CCIO, T-Pro | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Tally | Kandola | HR &OD – NHS England | Early stages of engagement on the Learning, Training & Development job roles |
| Ramandeep | Kaur | CCIO, University Hospials of Northamptonshire | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles / Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Jonathan | Kay | Pathologist | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Amna | Khan-Patel | Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, NHS England | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Tashfeen | Kholasi | HealthTech and Clinical Safety | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Helen | Kielty | Associate Director of Education (Clinical Coding), IHRIM | Clinical Coding job roles |
| Claire | Kirk | NHS England | Working with FEDIP on the Cyber Security job roles |
| Andrew | Lavelle | AnalystX – NHS England | Working with FEDIP on the data job roles |
| Caroline | Law | Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust | IG job roles |
| Philip | Lindstedt | Healthcare and Life Sciences, Palantir Technologies | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Paul | Llewellyn | CCIO / Clinical Safety Officer, Accenture UK | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Darren | Lloyd | Digital Health Care and Wales | Information Governance job roles |
| Stuart | Luckman | BCS | Consultant overseeing the creation of the job roles |
| Rob | Ludman | Aneurin Bevan Health Board | Technical and Operations job roles |
| Dean | Mawson | Clinical Safety Expert, DPM Digital Health Consultancy Ltd | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Euan | McComiskie | Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, Northern Ireland | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Fiona | Mills | CNIO, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Karen | Mitchell | Chemical Pathologist, Scotland | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Jim | Monk | NHS England | Working with FEDIP on the Delivery job roles |
| Cath | O’Brien | Chief Pharmacy Information Officer, Digital Health Care and Wales | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Sharon | O’Connor | CNIO and Digital Clinical Safety Officer, NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Adam | Partlow | Senior Clinical Scientist, Cardiff and Vale UHB | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Keith | Pinto Gomes | Clinical Safety Officer, NHS Dorset ICB | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Michal | Pruski | Senior Clinical Scientist (Physiology) Cardiff and Vale UHB | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Ayesha | Rahim | CCIO, Surry and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Sonia | Ramdhian | FEDIP – Management Board / Professional Development Committee | CILIP – The Library and Information Association – Knowledge Management job roles |
| Rudi | Redford-Brown | Senior Safety Engineer, NHS England | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Kaye | Reynolds | Clinical Safety Officer, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings Lynn NHS Foundation Trust | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Sam | Robinson | Head of Profession, Service Management | Technical and Operations job roles |
| Stephen | Roche | Clinical Safety Officer / Occupational Therapist, NHS South, Central and West Dorset | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Lauren | Saxton | Clinical Information Assurance Lead and Director of Comms, IHRIM | Clinical Coding job roles |
| Sarah | Scriven Wells | FEDIP – Management Board / Professional Development Committee | Head of Operations Manager |
| Isabella | Severgnini | Health Records Governance and Strategy Manager, Chair of the South West Health Records Managers Network | Early engagement on the Patient Services job roles – provision of job descriptions |
| Miren | Shah | Risk Management / Digital Transformation, BCS | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Robert | Simpson | Biomedical Scientist, Chair RCPath Standards Governance Board | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Ian | Thompson | GP – Scotland | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles / Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Clive Roland | Tomsett | Governance Lead and Clinical Safety Officer, ETHOS, Digital Health Limited | Clinical Safety Officer job role |
| Ian | Townend | Deputy CTO NHS England | Technical and Operations job roles |
| Maxime | Vandegeered | NHS England | Working with FEDIP on the Delivery job roles |
| Prahba | Vijayakumar | National Chief AHP Information Officer, NHS England | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
| Shana | Vijayan | NHS England | NHS England point of contact |
| Louise | Whitworth-Woodhead | NHS England | IG job roles |
| Emma | Wright | FEDIP – Management Board | AphA – Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts – data job roles |
| Heidi | Wright | Policy and Practice Lead, Royal Pharmaceutical Society | Clinical Informatics and Leadership job roles |
What happens if my question has not been answered?
If your question has not been answered, please contact kim.bellis@fedip.org