Tasmania's Health department gets new CIO

The Tasmanian Department of Health has a new chief information officer (CIO), with the promotion of deputy CIO Brent Feike into the role.

Feike was confirmed for the role in January, having been acting CIO since November 2023, a department spokesperson told iTnews.

His appointment followed the departure of previous CIO Warren Prentice.

After four years in the role, Prentice has taken a new role with the Australian Digital Health Agency, where he is branch manager of IT services, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“The Department of Health would like to thank Prentice for his dedication, commitment and leadership during his tenure with the Department, and we wish him all the best for the future,” the spokesperson told iTnews.

Before his role in Tasmania, Prentice served nearly three years as CTO with Queensland Health, followed by a brief stint with Gartner.

Feike’s 30-year IT career, meanwhile, includes being the Tasmanian Department of Health’s deputy CIO for three years. Before that, he spent over two years as CIO for the Department of Justice.

Tasmania began the long process of updating health IT systems in May 2022, when it allocated $150 million for a modernisation project including a single electronic health record.

At the time, budget documents stated that as much as $475 million could be allocated to the project over its four-year lifetime.

A further $40 million was allocated to that project in the 2023-2024 budget.