Clinical directors
Professor Derek Bell, Clinical Lead for the adult emergency services review
Professor Derek Bell graduated from Edinburgh University in 1980 and was a lecturer in the Department of Medicine with an MD on the inflammatory response to myocardial infarction. He initially specialised in chest and general medicine with an interest in intensive care and was appointed as Consultant at Central Middlesex Hospital before moving to Edinburgh as a Consultant in Acute Medicine and Chest Medicine.
Derek was appointed as the first Professor of Acute Medicine within the UK within the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. His academic research interests relate to the quality and organisation of care, particularly acute medical care, and in the methods of delivery of care, in relation to patient outcomes.
Professor Derek Bell is currently on several national committees and is an elected member of council for the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, and was appointed as the clinical lead for the acute medicine workstream of London’s review of adult emergency services.
Mr Kenn Dunn, Chair of the clinical expert panel for the London and South East England Specialised Burns project
Ken Dunn has been a consultant plastic surgeon since 1996, and is based at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, one of the largest teaching hospitals within the UK.
Ken Dunn specialises in complex wound and lower limb problems which include urogenital reconstruction, and has experience of post burn injury scarring and reconstruction and other areas of scar management. His particular areas of interest lie in the organisation and funding of services and clinically in the management of wounds, scars and amputation stump problems.
Having initially trained as a surgeon in a number of burns and plastic surgery units, this has led him to become a Consultant Burns and Plastic Surgeon in Manchester, and Director of the Manchester Burns Service. Previous roles have also included Chairman of the British Burn Association, and member of the British Association of Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgeons. Ken Dunn is currently the Medical Director of the International Burn Injury Database.
Since November 2010, Ken has fulfilled the role of chair of the clinical expert panel for the London and South East England Specialised Burns project. The project is managed by London Health Programmes, on behalf of the London and South East England specialised burns commissioning consortium. The consortium is run by the London Specialised Commissioning Group, and comprises of the South East Coast, South Central and East of England SCGs. The project has been developed to identify the extent to which and how specialised burn services in the area need to change, to ensure services are clinically and financially sustainable and provide the best possible patient care and outcomes for the future.
Mr Simon Eccles, Clinical Lead for the paediatric emergency surgery workstream of the paediatric emergency services review
Mr Simon Eccles originally trained as a dentist before qualifying in medicine in 1992. He has worked as a consultant craniofacial plastic surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and now works at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust. Mr Eccles also holds the post of Director of neonatal, children and young peoples services at Chelsea and Westminster and clinical director of paediatrics at the Bupa Cromwell Hospital.
Mr Eccles is secretary and a trustee of ‘Facing the World’, a charity that treats children with facial deformity from around the developing world, and educates healthcare professionals. He is also a patron of ‘Elizabeths Legacy of Hope’, a charity that provides artificial limbs to victims of land mines.
Dr Chris Harrison, Clinical Director of the integrated cancer systems project
Dr Chris Harrison was appointed medical director at The Christie, one of Europe’s leading cancer centres, in June 2006. He has a long standing interest in the development of cancer services and improvements in clinical quality. He has led the implementation of a new strategic framework to further improve the quality of care for patients at The Christie.
Since January 2011, Dr Harrison has also fulfilled the role of clinical director for the London cancer implementation programme. This implementation of this clinically-led model of care is driven by the need to improve survival rates to match Europe’s best. These changes could save up to 1,000 lives every year in London by enabling earlier diagnoses to be made, improving inpatient care and reducing inequalities in access to services.
Mrs Celia Ingham Clark, Clinical Lead for the adult emergency services project
Celia Ingham Clark joined the Whittington as a consultant general surgeon in 1996 and spent time as Director of Medical Education, Clinical Director and interim Director of Operations before becoming the trust Medical Director in 2004. Since 2007 she has also been National Clinical Lead for Transforming Inpatient Care, working with the National Cancer Director. Since 2010 she has also been Associate Medical Director for Secondary Care at NHS London. Her particular interest is in using service development to drive up quality of care.
In April 2011, she was appointed Medical Director of the newly formed Integrated Care Organisation, Whittington Health.
Dr William Lynn, Clinical Director of the tuberculosis project
Dr William Lynn is acting chief executive and consultant in infectious diseases at Ealing Hospital. He was previously the Medical Director.
Bill joined the Trust as a consultant in the infection and immunity unit in 1996 and was appointed Divisional Director of Medicine and A&E in 2001. As Medical Director, Dr Lynn was responsible for implementation of all policies on medical matters and provided leadership on training, research and development ethics and clinical governance. Dr Lynn is also the Director of Infection Prevention and Control and a board member of the Public Library of Science and Director of the International Medical Education Forum.
Dr Gulamabbas Khakoo, Clinical Lead for the paediatric emergency medicine workstream of the paediatric emergency services review
Abbas has been a Consultant in Paediatrics at Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for the past 15 years, where he has been the named doctor for safeguarding since January 2007. From July 2005 to April 2009, Abbas was the Clinical Director for Women & Children’s Services at the Trust, and acted in the role of Medical Director between April and July 2009. Abbas has also been a Consultant in the Department of Paediatric Allergy at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, for the past 13 years.
Since November 2009, Abbas has been the Clinical Director for Quality and Safety at Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Chair of the Patient Safety Group, and liaises with all clinical divisions on clinical quality and safety issues.
Abbas was appointed as Clinical Director for Paediatrics by NHS London in October 2010 and has provided support to the Medical Director on paediatric matters, including reconfiguration of services. Abbas was appointed as Clinical Lead for the paediatric emergency medicine workstream of the paediatric emergency services review in May 2011.
Dr Andy Mitchell, NHS London Medical Director
Dr Andy Mitchell qualified from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in 1980.
Andy was appointed Medical Director to NHS London in April 2009. He also continues in part time general paediatric practice.
Previously he was Associate Medical Director at Great Ormond Street Hospital, during which time he facilitated the London children’s pathway group.
Prior to this, Andy worked as clinical lead for the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Maternity and Children’s Network, worked with the Department of Health on collaborative policy development, and both the Modernisation Agency and Care Services Improvement Partnership as a national clinical network lead. He is a civilian adviser to the Defence Medical Services.
Marilyn Plant, Clinical Director of the polysystems evaluation
Dr Marilyn Plant is a GP in Barnes and NHS Richmond PEC chair. She is also chair of the Richmond pathfinder clinical commissioning group and was formerly Medical Director of the PCT holding the trust lead for research and development.
Marilyn has worked as a senior teaching fellow at Imperial College London in the Division of Epidemiology, Public Health and Primary Care, developed a BSc course in primary care and supervised student research projects. She was a clinical lead for the London polysystems programme that commissioned the polysystems evaluation and continues to chair the steering committee and support delivery of the project.
Professor Matt Thompson, Clinical Director of the adult emergency services review
Professor Matt Thompson qualified from Cambridge and St Bartholomew’s Hospital medical schools. He trained in vascular surgery in Leicester and in Adelaide, and obtained his research degree as a Wellcome Training Fellow. He was a consultant surgeon in Leicester before moving to his current position as Clinical Director for Cardiovascular Services at St George’s Hospital and the Professor of Vascular Surgery at St George’s Vascular Institute. He is also Honorary Secretary of the British Society for Endovascular Therapy.
He has a clinical interest in the treatment of complex aneurysmal disease, and St George’s Vascular Institute has one of the largest endovascular aortic practices in the UK. His research interests are in translational aspects of vascular biology, evolution of endovascular technology and outcomes analysis.
Professor Thompson is Clinical Director for the adult emergency services review. Previously, he was Clinical Director for the Healthcare for London major trauma project and the Commissioning Support for London cardiovascular review.
