Andrew Blundell

Andrew Blundell is Head of Software Engineering

Head of Software Engineering

I’ve been part of the NHS for most of my working life. I joined as a software developer after university, and over the years I have climbed the ladder of technical roles. Now, my primary focus is empowering our delivery teams to practise awesome engineering.

There are all sorts of emerging technologies that can make a massive difference in healthcare, and the work I am doing now is preparing the way for us to take that ‘next-generation’ leap. It’s a combination of hard, heavy technical work, and strategic direction setting. My mission is to create not only the building blocks for continuous improvements to happen, but also the cultural conditions in which they can thrive.

I find it particularly rewarding when I can join up different teams to solve problems together.

I’m also chair of the Application and Infrastructure Design Authority, which is responsible for policy and standard setting. But what I am most proud of – and it is the realisation of everything I have been working towards for the past couple of years – is the NHS Digital Engineering Quality Framework. It is a knowledge repository that we’ve created to share a view of what good engineering looks like. It enables our teams to learn from each other and it’s open to everyone wanting to take a similar approach.