Kelsey to be NHS CB information director

Tim Kelsey has been appointed as the national director for patients and information by the NHS Commissioning Board Authority.

Kelsey will take up the new post in July. The NHS CB described the purpose of Kelsey’s role as developing and delivering “national strategies on public and patient engagement, intelligence and informatics.”

In a statement, Kelsey said: “I am thrilled to be joining the NHS Commissioning Board Authority.

"As a new organisation, we have a huge opportunity to be truly patient-focused and clinically-led and work in new and innovative ways to deliver real improvements in patient outcomes and experience.”

Kelsey, a former journalist, became executive director for transparency and open data within the Cabinet Office’s efficiency and reform group in January, having been the government’s transparency ‘tsar’.

Earlier in his career, he co-founded Dr Foster, the healthcare information provider that runs the annual Hospital Guide ranking of NHS trusts. He was also responsible for the design and launch of NHS Choices.

The chief executive of the NHS CB, Sir David Nicholson, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Tim as the final member of our national director team.

"Tim comes to the board authority with a vast range of experience and expertise, which I know will ensure that the patient voice is at the very heart of everything that we do”.

Taking to Twitter after the announcement, Kelsey described the role as a “great honour and challenge” and was asked by one of his followers to provide a “tweet sized bite” of what he would like to achieve in his new position.

Responding to John Appleby, chief economist at the King’s Fund, Kelsey tweeted: “I want the NHS to be a service that makes my mother’s life easier and healthier by giving her greater control and transparency.”

Following Kelsey’s appointment, the complete team of national directors at the NHS BC is: Jane Cummings, chief nursing officer; Ian Dalton, chief operating officer; Jo-Anne Wass, chief of staff; Barbara Hakin, director of commissioning development; Paul Baumann, director of finance; Jim Easton, director of transformation; Bill McCarthy, director of policy, corporate development and partnership and Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director.

At the moment, the NHS CB is operating as a special health authority. Board appointments will transfer to the NHS Commissioning Board once it is established as an executive non-departmental public body in October 2012.

Kelsey’s departure from the Cabinet Office comes just a day after the government announced plans to create an Open Data Institute with £10m of funding from the Technology Strategy Board.