Niall Forbes Ross Dickson CBE (born 5 November 1953) was appointed chair of East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust in April 2021. He was chief executive of the NHS Confederation, between February 2017 [1] and October 2020. [2]
Between 2010 and 2016 he served as chief executive and registrar of the General Medical Council (GMC), [3] and led the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) until 2016. [3] Previously, Dickson worked as chief executive of the King’s Fund, from 2004 to 2009, after a career in journalism. [3]
He was born in Scotland [4] and educated at Glasgow Academy, Edinburgh Academy and then studied at the University of Edinburgh. [5] He is the brother of Alastair Dickson, founder of the Scottish law firm Dickson Minto.
He was the editor of the Nursing Times from 1983 to 1988. [6]
He worked at the BBC for 15 years, joining as health correspondent in 1988 and progressing to the position of social affairs editor for BBC News from 1995 to 2003. [7] As social affairs editor he was responsible for around 80 journalists [5] and his producer was Laura Kuenssberg.
He was Chief Executive of the King's Fund from 2004 to 2009. [8]
In January 2010, he was appointed as Chief Executive and registrar of the General Medical Council. [9] He took up the post of chair of the IAMRA in 2014, for a three-year term of office. [10]
Dickson was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to patient safety. [11]
The Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) for communicable diseases in the European Union was created by the European Commission to "ensure a rapid and effective response by the EU to events related to communicable diseases."
"EWRS is a web-based system linking the Commission, the public health authorities in Member States responsible for measures to control communicable diseases and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). EEA countries are also linked to the system."
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union and professional body in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916 as the College of Nursing, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022, King Charles III continued the royal connection and became patron in 2024. The majority of members are registered nurses; however student nurses and healthcare assistants are also members. There is also a category of membership, at a reduced cost, for retired people.
Matthew Taylor is a British former political strategist and current Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, having previously led the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) in the United Kingdom between 2006 and 2021. In 2005, he was appointed by incumbent Prime Minister Tony Blair as head of the Number 10 Policy Unit. He is a writer, public speaker and broadcaster who has been a panellist on BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze since 2008. In October 2016, he was appointed Chair of the Review of Modern Employment established by Prime Minister Theresa May; the Taylor Review report Good Work was published in July 2017.
Chaitanya Patel is a British doctor, businessman and philanthropist. Born in Uganda to Indian parents, he obtained medical qualifications at the University of Southampton in 1979 and previously worked in the National Health Service. He currently is Chairman of Elysian Capital an independent, private equity firm specialising in investing in the UK lower mid-market in deals of between £10m and £100m, and Chairman of HC-One, a nursing home management company. In August 2019, Chai announced his plans to retire from HC-One the following year.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public" by controlling entry to the register, and suspending or removing members when necessary. It also sets the standards for medical schools in the UK. Membership of the register confers substantial privileges under Part VI of the Medical Act 1983. It is a criminal offence to make a false claim of membership. The GMC is supported by fees paid by its members, and it became a registered charity in 2001.
Mike Farrar CBE was Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation from 2011 until October 2013.
The NHS Confederation, formerly the National Association of Health Authorities and Trusts, is a membership body for organisations that commission and provide National Health Service services founded in 1990. The predecessor organisation was called the National Association of Health Authorities in England and Wales.
NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly–funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland, supported by seven special non-geographic health boards, and Public Health Scotland.
Alasdair Donald MacDuff Liddell was one of the architects of Britain's health strategy in the 1990s. As Director of Planning at the Department of Health (1994–2000), he led the process of setting national priorities for the National Health Service (NHS).
New Year Honours were granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand at the start of 2005. Among these in the UK were knighthoods awarded to Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist; Derek Wanless, who led a review of the National Health Service; and Brian Harrison, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The former athlete Kelly Holmes was made a Dame. The television presenter Alan Whicker was awarded a CBE.
The Concordat between bodies inspecting, regulating and auditing health or social care (2004) is a "voluntary agreement between organisations that regulate, audit, inspect or review elements of health and healthcare in England". It is made up of 10 objectives designed to promote closer working between the signatories. Each objective is underpinned by a number of practices that focus developments on areas that will help to secure effective implementation.
The Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), formerly known as the NHS Partners Network, is a representative body for independent sector healthcare providers in the United Kingdom.
Dame Anne Marie Rafferty FRCN is a British nurse, academic and researcher. She is the professor of nursing policy and the former dean of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care at King's College London. She served as President of the Royal College of Nursing from 2019 to 2021. She was nominated for a life peerage on 20 December 2024.
Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplements to the London Gazette and many are conferred by the monarch some time after the date of the announcement, particularly for those service people on active duty.
Nikita "Nikki" Kanani MBE is a general practitioner and the former chief clinical officer of the Bexley Clinical Commissioning Group. In 2018 she became the first woman to be appointed medical director of primary care at NHS England.
Jason Andrew Leitch is the National Clinical Director of Healthcare Quality and Strategy for the Scottish Government. He is a Senior Clinical Advisor to the Scottish Government and a member of the Health and Social Care Management Board. Leitch was involved in the COVID-19 pandemic response, where his duties included communicating complex scientific information to the public.
Yvonne Veronica Coghill is a British National Health Service manager who currently serves on the NHS Equality and Diversity Council and is the vice president of the Royal College of Nursing.
Alison Joan Tierney FRCN is a British nurse researcher and educator and a former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. Tierney was one of the first graduates (1971) of the Integrated Degree/Nursing programme at The University of Edinburgh. In 2018 she was named as one of 70 of the most influential nurses in the 70 years of the NHS.
Sir Donald Hamilton Irvine was a British general practitioner (GP) who was president of the General Medical Council (GMC) between 1995 and 2002, during a time when there were a number of high-profile medical failure cases in the UK, including the Alder Hey organs scandal, the Bristol heart scandal and The Shipman Inquiry. He transformed the culture of the GMC by setting out what patients could expect of doctors and is credited with leading significant changes in the regulation of professional medicine and introducing the policy of professional revalidation in the UK.
Ahalia Navina Evans is a British former child and adolescent psychiatry consultant who has been the Chief Workforce, Training & Education Officer of NHS England since April 2023. She was previously the chief executive officer of East London NHS Foundation Trust between 2016 and 2020 and chief executive of Health Education England between 2020 and 2023.