Ming Tang appointed interim CDIO at NHS England

Ming Tang has been appointed chief digital and information officer at NHS England on an interim basis following the departure of John Quinn.

Alongside her current role as chief data and analytics officer (CDAO) at NHSE, Tang begins her interim role today (1 April 2025) following Quinn’s exit, which was announced in January 2025.

In an internal email to colleagues, seen by Digital Health News, Vin Diwakar, national director of transformation at NHSE, said the decision “follows the announcement of the NHS Transformation Executive Team, which introduced the team and mentioned the upcoming recruitment of a new substantive chief digital officer”.

“With many moving parts, Jim Mackey, the Board, and I have decided that an interim solution is necessary to maintain stability and provide leadership as we progress through the initial stages of the transition towards integration with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC),” he added.

Diwakar revealed to colleagues that the interim arrangement is expected to be in place until a permanent appointment is made, with the process to do so now underway.

Tang has extensive leadership experience having joined the NHS in 2009, initially leading commissioning support services before serving as the managing director of a commissioning support unit.

“With over 20 years of experience in managing and delivering large, complex, and challenging change programmes, she is well-equipped to provide the necessary leadership and continuity,” Diwakar said.

Most recently, Tang has co-chaired a 10 year health plan working group alongside DHSC colleagues, which is focused on how the NHS should allocate its resources to maximise the impact of data and technology and develop a roadmap for a digitally connected future.

Currently, in her role as CDAO in the Transformation Directorate, she is responsible for the strategic development of data and analytics capabilities across the NHS and has led the federated data platform (FDP), one of the NHS’ major transformation programmes.

Diwakar concluded: “To deliver the recommendations in the upcoming 10 Year Health Plan, support the transformation of the NHS and deliver the spending review, we need the digital and data trams to increase collaboration.

“This will require both functions working as one to enable Transformation Directorate to lead the change agenda.

“I am sure that you will all support Ming in her expanded role. Over the coming weeks, Ming will be working with senior leadership teams across digital, data and analytics to ensure a smooth and effective handover.”

Diwakar and Tang were both speakers at Digital Health Rewired 2025, which took place 18-19 March at the NEC in Birmingham.

Diwakar announced at the event that NHS England will launch the 2025 Digital Maturity Assessment “over the course of the next few weeks”.