Special issue: Current perspectives in Health Informatics

Abstract

It is very appropriate that John Bryant, marking the end of his term as Editor of this Journal, provides the introduction to this special issue. Not least because in doing so, it provides me with an opportunity, on behalf of Taylor & Francis and Informa, to publicly thank him most sincerely for his work on the Journal. John has been the editor in chief for over eight years, and as I just begin the task of succeeding him, I am acutely aware of the hard work and effort he has consistently put in to make the Journal successful. Personally, I am extremely grateful to him for his help in this interim, transitional period. John provides a thoughtful, reflective editorial. He reviews selected outputs of a longstanding conference and considers them in the context of wider changes that have taken place in the field of Health Informatics. One important change in the perspective given by him is the move from what was initially considered to be health computing to the more pervasive perspective of Health Informatics that includes the nature of the information itself, its use and usefulness in care contexts as well as the diversity of systems that are designed to process it. In truth, a selection of papers, from a single conference, and a national one at that, can only provide an incomplete snapshot of the whole field, but John has used them to reflect upon what was current in 1984, as opposed to what is current now. In doing so, John acknowledges the successes that have been achieved but recognizes, too, the lack of progress made. Explicitly, John issues the challenge to us all active within Health Informatics to improve upon what we have, and not to be satisfied with the current state. John concludes his editorial on an optimistic note and ends by looking forward to the future in anticipation. I concur, and in so doing, I hope, with your help as both readers and contributors, to accept his challenge by improving this Journal. The goal will be to use the Journal to showcase the very best in research and practice so as to promote evidence-based informatics and thereby show its relevance and importance for improving health and social care, wherever and however it is delivered.