September 04, 2008

Richard Granger heads down to KPMG

Former NHS CIO goes walkabout in global healthcare role

By CIO UK staff and Computerworld reporters

---

Health industry news sites are reporting that the former NHS CIO Richard Granger has landed a consulting role at KPMG and will be based in Australia.

Granger is said to be joining the KPMG Global Health Practice as a partner.

No formal announcement has been made, however there was an informally announcement made yesterday at an e-health conference in Melbourne, Australia, reports E-Health Insider. KPMG would not confirm the news. It is believed that Granger’s new role will be a global, but it is not known at this stage whether it will include the UK.

Granger was appointed as director general of NHS IT in September 2002. He went on to lead the £12.7 billion National Programme for IT in the NHS and Connecting for Health when the agency was created in April 2005.

He resigned from his role as head of the CfH programme in June 2007 and left the role in February 2008.

No golden handshake was given to Granger, who on a salary of £290,000 a year, was the UK’s highest paid civil servant.

Several of the deals with IT vendors that Granger secured have been “reset” since his departure due to changing demands of the programme, as both Accenture and Fujistu have left the programme. Earlier this week Fujitsu confirmed it was trying to recoup £700 million of the £896 million it was due to have been paid if the 10-year contract had been completed.

On 8 August, the NHS finally filled the hole left by Granger almost six months after his departure. The health authority hired two new posts.

Christine Connolly, previously chief information officer at Cadbury Schweppes, has become chief information officer for health, looking after the information strategy across the NHS. Martin Bellamy, former chief information officer for the Pensions Service, has become NHS's head of programme and system delivery.

Gordon Hextall, NPfIT's chief operating officer, who has been acting as the its head since Granger departed, is expected to stay in post. Both jobs were advertised and would be paid in the £200,000-a-year range.

If Granger is joining KPMG, it is a return to his management consultancy roots, prior to his controversial time at the NHS he was with Deloitte and Touche.

Related stories:

Granger: The final word

NHS IT chief Richard Granger finally departs

Newsletters

Our Daily & Weekly Newsletters highlight breaking news, vital issues, expert analysis and solutions to help you stay ahead of developments in the industry.