Swindells to urge NHS IT pros to play part

The departing Department of Health CIO Matthew Swindells is expected to use his keynote speech at Healthcare Computing today to call on IT professionals to ‘play their part’ to help deliver the change underway in the NHS.

Swindells is the keynote for the HC2008 conference on Monday, 21 April, where he will call for greater IT involvement in the NHS. According to a CIO magazine report Swindells will use his speech in Harrogate to tell healthcare workers that information and technology have a strategic role in implementing the radical changes the health service is going through.

“Information saves lives, so information professionals need to step forward and play their part in creating an NHS that is founded on quality, evidence and empowerment,” Swindells is quoted as saying.

Earlier this month Swindells, who has been leading the NHS review of informatics, unexpectedly announced that he will quit the department ahead of the publication of his review. Swindells will leave the DH to join consultants Tribal Group to head up its new health division.