Dr Rice, who has more than 25 years of experience in the NHS, is responsible for leading the continuation of progress towards digitisation of health and care digital systems in Northern Ireland. He will also be the senior information risk officer for the Department of Health and the leader of Digital Health and Care Northern Ireland (DHCNI).

Most recently, Dr Rice held the CDIO position at both Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Airedale NHS Foundation Trust in West Yorkshire. Immediately prior to this, he was the regional director of digital transformation for NHS England and Improvement in the Northeast and Yorkshire.

Health minister Mike Nesbitt said: ‘Paul brings a wealth of experience in digital transformation across health and social care, including the successful delivery of major national NHS programmes.

‘His leadership in implementing hospital electronic patient records, enhancing primary care workflows, and deploying innovative technologies to support clinical, operational and administrative staff will be an invaluable asset to the role. I look forward to working closely with him.'

Dr Rice said: ‘The introduction of encompass across the five geographically defined health and social care trusts has given us a unique opportunity to lead the way in innovation and deliver genuinely digitally enabled health and social care.

‘I am very optimistic, building on this platform, that we will improve the working life of colleagues and positively impact outcomes for patients. Access to high quality actionable data will inform service planning reflective of need. We can be at the forefront of life sciences research, and digital and data supported transformation.

‘Having worked in various roles across the NHS in England, I expect to bring some of that experience and insights from across the globe to this role, continuing to build on the great work already started.'