McKesson UK has appointed Paul Richards as the managing director and chief operating officer designate for its acute business unit.
In his new role, Richards will take primary responsibility for McKesson’s Medway Electronic Patient Record (EPR) family of products, including its Patient Administration System (PAS) and Maternity products as well as the Horizon Enterprise Visibility (HEV) bed management solution.
An experienced operations and commercial leader, with more than 20 years’ experience in the UK healthcare IT sector, he has held senior IT positions within NHS trusts including Derby City General Hospital NHS Trust, NHS South Derbyshire and Northern General Hospital NHS Trust, now Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where he was director of information management and technology with responsibility for a series of initiatives to enhance the quality and capabilities of the trust’s information and IT infrastructure.
In 2000, he moved to a provider role with TOREX and then iSOFT, where he held a series of positions, culminating in his appointment as group operations director in 2008, with worldwide responsibility for the performance of all regional business units including country operations, implementation and consultancy. He joins McKesson from Allscripts Healthcare Solutions where he was managing director for Europe, leading on establishing its product portfolio across the region.
He said of the new role: “McKesson has a fantastic opportunity in this market. Not only is the organisation an ongoing trusted supplier to the NHS, but its current product suite is among the most exciting and compelling available.
“The NHS has been through a period of dramatic change and there is now a real opportunity for trusts to gain real efficiencies and improvements in patient safety through the implementation of future-proof IT systems. I see McKesson’s solutions as being at the core of this change.”
Patrick Carter, chairman of McKesson International Group, added: “We are delighted to be welcoming Paul as the new leader of our acute division. He brings a wealth of experience to the role and has a long and dedicated history with the UK healthcare market, being able to benefit from roles both as a user and a provider of IT systems. He is an incredibly talented individual and we believe heis precisely the right candidate to lead this business in the next stage of its growth.”