The IHRIM Executive Board is establishing an Advisory Board and is seeking enthusiastic subject matter experts in the different areas of health informatics from around the UK. This is not limited to senior people but is open to those that are passionate about their job and how it is evolving with the ever-changing landscape in health and care, and this could be in private healthcare as well as the NHS.

This is an exciting opportunity for you to help shape patient services job roles, advise the IHRIM Executive Board on upcoming policy, respond to government papers and share the experiences of what working at the coal face is like.

We are hoping to hear from you if you work in any of the following areas:

• Health records
• Inpatient and outpatient booking
• Data quality
• Information governance
• Clinical coding
• Patient access
• Records management including corporate records
• Referral Management
• Medical Secretaries
• Ward Clerks
• Receptionists
• Data Protection

If you are interested, then please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your name, job role and organisation.

Do you want to become professionally registered?

Do you need some help and direction on how to do this?

Then join us on a Teams video call on one of the following sessions:

• Tuesday 23rd June 2026 - 19.15 to 20.15
• Tuesday 28th July 2026 - 19.15 to 20.15
• Tuesday 25th August 2026 - 19.15 to 20.15
• Tuesday 22nd September 2026 - 19.15 to 20.15
• Tuesday 27th October 2026 - 19.15 to 20.15
• Tuesday 24th November 2026 - 19.15 to 20.15

We will talk you through the six different levels of Practitioner status:

• Affiliate Practitioner (Entry Level)
• Associate Practitioner
• Practitioner
• Senior Practitioner
• Advanced Practitioner
• Leading Practitioner

and go through the relating standards.

We will help you with the type of evidence that you will need to provide, most of which should be naturally occurring through your work.

We will help navigate you through the application process and show you how to sign up to the FEDIP Hub.

We will talk through the benefits of access to the Hub, including recording your continuing professional development and we will show you the FEDIP Public Register.

Professional registration is open to anyone; however, this will not give those working overseas automatic access to working in health and care in the UK. For those overseas who are interested in undertaking the National Clinical Coding Qualification you MUST first be working in the NHS for at least two years before you can register.

If you are interested in joining a session on how to become professionally registered, please contact Kim Bellis, Director Without Portfolio via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

There have been a few concerns raised over how the NCCQ will be conducted going forward after the implementation of OPCS-4.11. This is just to reassure prospective candidates that IHRIM is working hard with NHS England to ensure that we are able to organise the exam process with the least disruption possible.  Below are the decisions that have been made in agreement with the NHS England.

Arrangements for NCCQ September 2026

The NCCQ on Tuesday 15^th September will examine against ICD-10 and OPCS-4.11. Access to the NHS Classifications Browser will be via the Synap platform. It is anticipated that an offline version of the Browser will be available and in use for this exam. The National Clinical Coding Standards Manuals will be available for reference during the Practical Exam only. These will be accessible either through the Browser or as separate PDFs within Synap.

Candidates are permitted to bring in ICD-10 books.  Candidates are permitted to bring in OPCS-4.10 hard copy books, however this is strongly discouraged. Candidates are not permitted to take in additional hardcopy notes or to access any digital versions of notes e.g. OneNote or other shared resources.  

There are no changes to the length of the exam.

Arrangements for NCCQ March 2027

Following the survey of the coding profession and the overwhelming support in favour of altering the exam schedule, the September NCCQ will be the last full day exam.  The exams in March 2027 will take place over two separate days. We have delayed implementation of the split days from September to March to allow managers as much notice as possible to secure suitable venues and invigilators.  

This is obviously a difficult time for all of us but we hope this makes clear IHRIM’s commitment to continuing to provide the best service possible. 

NHS England has confirmed a new partnership approach to support the professional recognition of the NHS Digital, Data and Technology workforce, bringing DDaT roles into closer alignment with other established NHS professions. 

The approach recognises the critical role that digital, data and technology professionals play in delivering safe, reliable and modern healthcare services. 

Through collaboration with the Federation for Informatics Professionals (FEDIP) and its member professional bodies, NHS England will support a phased expectation of professional membership and registration, starting at senior levels, alongside improved affordability of membership for the majority of the workforce. 

Professional membership provides access to recognised ethical standards, continuous professional development, and national communities of practice. This work does not introduce new mandatory employer training requirements and takes account of existing professional and financial commitments, particularly for clinical colleagues. 

The offer introduces a phased and affordable expectation of professional membership, starting with senior roles and expanding to all levels by 2031.

With significantly reduced membership rates for AfC Band 7 and below, supported Continuing Professional Development, accreditation pathways and access to national professional communities, this programme brings DDaT in line with other established NHS professions.

Further details of the offer, including the new affordability rates, are available on the NHS website: https://digital-transformation.hee.nhs.uk/news/professional-membership-for-the-nhs-digital%2C-data-and-technology-workforce

On Friday, 3 July 2026, we discovered that some of our public web pages were changed without permission. This type of incident is called defacement.

We acted right away by taking the website offline and restoring it from a secure backup that same day. The problem that allowed this to happen has been fixed. Our web service partner has checked the site and confirmed it is free of harmful software. We are also adding more security measures to help protect the site.

We take protecting your information very seriously. After carefully reviewing the incident, we found no evidence that any personal information was copied, accessed, or compromised.

Passwords are not stored in a readable format and are protected using strong encryption. You do not need to take any action. Thank you for your understanding, and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Kind regards,

Michael Harwood-Jones FHRIM

Interim CEO, IHRIM

Please find below NCCQ & HI Exam Dates for 2026 - 2030:

NCCQ Exams

24.03.26

15.09.26

16.03.27

21.09.27

21.03.28

19.09.28

20.03.29

18.09.29

19.03.30

17.09.30

HI Exams

18.05.26

19.05.26

24.05.27

25.05.27

22.05.28

23.05.28

21.05.29

22.05.29

20.05.30

21.05.30