Editor’s blog Monday 19 July 2010: Matthew Swindells leaving Tribal for Cerner

Professor Matthew Swindells is leaving his current job as group MD of health for management consultancy Tribal to work for Cerner, in its global organisation.

Swindells, a former NHS hospital chief executive who became a policy adviser to the PM's Office for Public Sector Reform and then to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt before heading the DH's informatics review and becoming the first board-level Chief Information Officer, joined Tribal in June 2008, and during his time there, the company's health revenue and profit more than doubled.

Cerner is the provider of the much-delayed Millennium hospital patient administration system to NHS Connecting For Health, in association with BT.

Swindells will do well for Cerner: he is smart, politically well-attuned and can see through special pleading quickly. His NHS informatics review showed good sense and pragmatism about the future direction required. You can read an interview he gave Health Policy Insight in early 2009 here.