A Consultant from Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust has won a prestigious position on the Council of the Royal College of Physicians.
The Royal College of Physicians help set and monitor the standards of medical training to physicians across the country, and regularly set guidelines and compile audits.
Dr David Nicholl, Consultant Neurologist, has been voted on to the College Council which discusses topics around training, quality of care and new UK and European legislation.
Dr Nicholl said: “I am excited to be on the Council, ultimately though I am one cog in the machine, and we all need to have the courage to drive on with providing quality care. We should be putting high quality care first, and targets and money second.”
He is on the council at a time when the NHS is going through a lot of change and it is coming to terms with those changes that gives Dr Nicholl a challenge to relish.
Dr Nicholl continued: “The NHS is facing the biggest challenges in its history, and there has never been a time when safety and quality of care have been higher on the agenda, following the Mid Staffs Inquiry. Yet I think this is an opportunity for physicians to regain our professionalism and courage. If there is something that is not right then we should be doing something about it.
“I believe that Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Hospital Trust is good at encouraging debate and engaging its staff. To the public, this debate can appear confusing but it is vital that the NHS remains one of the best healthcare systems in the world, we need to make it better, not break it.”
Dr Nicholl takes up his post in August and will serve a three year term on the council.
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