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The chief executive officer of an organization supported by Matt Hancock to promote “digital transformation” in the NHS remains in office one year after the health secretary appointed him, without an interview, on a temporary basis.
NHSX was heavily promoted by Hancock, who created it in 2019 to spur digital change in the health service. During the pandemic it assigned high priority projects to him as part of the UK’s coronavirus response.
Extracts from a Deloitte audit draft, compiled in January and viewed by the Guardian, say Matthew Gould, a former diplomat and public official, has been appointed NHSX Chief Executive by the Secretary of Health on a “temporary” basis.
More than a year later, Gould remains in office and his position has not been publicly advertised. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said Gould’s position “will be publicized shortly” and will be subject to open and full competition.
A senior NHS official said Hancock had ruled that Gould would be given the highest seat in the body when he was created. The two men had previously worked together in the culture department, where Gould was digital director while Hancock was cultural secretary.
Earlier, the British ambassador to Israel, Gould, reportedly lifted the civil service after being tasked with gathering evidence of how Brexit would harm the UK, on the advice of George Osborne. The two men have been friends since they attended St Paul’s school together.
Launched in July 2019 to provide Hancock’s “technological vision” for the health service, NHSX has been charged with accountability for the key pillars of the government’s coronavirus response, including the first iteration of a Covid-19 tracking app for mobile phones .
He was also tasked with creating a “Covid-19 data repository” to consolidate large amounts of health data previously distributed across multiple divisions of the NHS to assist ministerial decision-making, and has been given responsibility for some of the IT infrastructure surrounding the launch of Covid-19 vaccinations.
The organization’s uncertain status in January, as revealed by the audit draft, raises questions as to why Hancock entrusted the essential axes of the government’s coronavirus response to a nascent, untested body.
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“The chief executive officer of NHSX was appointed ad-free in July 2019 under temporary arrangements,” according to the audit draft. He said ministerial approval to appoint the permanent post had been obtained and “will be publicized”.
The same audit also found that Gould’s contract and responsibilities weren’t finalized until several months after he had already started his job.
In May, a National Audit Office report on digital transformation in the healthcare service warned that the creation of NHSX had a complicated responsibility for the expansion of digital technologies and that “national governance arrangements for digital transformation remain confused, despite attempts. to clarify them “.
Gould reports directly to Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England, while also reporting directly to Hancock.
A report from the parliamentary public accounts committee earlier this month said: “We are concerned that the governance arrangements for NHSX have not yet been finalized more than a year after its creation.” He added: “There is little transparency about his spending and activities.”
The president of NHS Digital, which manages the digital infrastructure of the health service, has been tasked with overseeing a review of how responsibility for digital transformation is outlined within the various bodies of the NHS.
Laura Wade-Gery, who was named president in July this year, received team support from consultancy firm McKinsey at a cost of £ 588,000.
NHSX was put in the national spotlight after being commissioned by Hancock to oversee the creation of the Covid-19 mobile phone app, which would be installed by members of the public on their phones to help monitor exposure to the virus.
A spokesperson for the DHSC said NHSX “played a vital role in the department’s coronavirus response.”
They added, “The creation of NHSX and the appointment of the chief executive followed the civil service process, with Mr. Gould’s appointment approved by the senior civil service leadership committee.”
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