Boots appoints former NHS IT executive as director of innovation

Walgreens Boots Alliance has appointed Richard Corbridge as global director of innovation to support its digital transformation endeavours.

The newly created role will see Corbridge involved in activities around “reimagining the future of Boots from a customer experience perspective” and leading concept development, design testing and launch planning of new business offerings.

According to the IT chief, the role will be focused on developing and personalising “new economy experiences” for customers based on an omnichannel model.

Corbridge is also tasked with providing strategy and leadership to interdisciplinary teams working under agile methodologies to support the retailer’s future vision.

Prior to joining Boots, Corbridge served for just over a year and a half as chief digital and information officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the largest NHS trusts in England, before leaving in March.

At Leeds, Corbridge focused on developing a plan to improve the way healthcare organisations and their clinicians use data to improve patient care.

Prior to that, the executive held the roles of CEO at the Health Service Executive, the Irish equivalent of the NHS, and chief executive at eHealth Ireland, which was set up to deliver innovation in public healthcare.

In the dual role, Corbridge faced the challenge of driving digital enablement after a long period of under-investment in the Irish IT healthcare systems. “I like a challenge – that’s why I work in healthcare IT,” he said at the time.