New Associate Director of NMAHP
David grew up in the mining village of Lesmahagow in South Lanarkshire. After a spectacularly incompetent 2-year career in the Bank, David moved to Glasgow in 1979 to study Podiatry (Chiropody as it then was).
His first job was in Motherwell Health Centre and he moved to work in Glasgow in 1985. He has been involved in podiatry and AHP leadership for over 25 years. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Podiatric Medicine within the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Glasgow) where he is also Director of Professional Education.
He has two post-graduate degrees, and his research into organisational culture and AHP leadership, together with publications describing large scale service and system redesign, provide national and international speaking and consultancy opportunities.
David has been described as ‘forcefully optimistic’ and he has a track record of delivering whole system redesign and cultural transformation programmes to support radical improvements in service delivery, organisational performance and digital transformation.
Coming into NES as Associate NMAHP Director, David said;
“This post represents the pinnacle of my professional career. I recognise I have a lot of learning ahead to fully understand the nuances of the function and funding of NES, but everyone has been so supportive and helpful during these first three weeks, I feel that I have been here for longer!
The AHP community in NES is energetic, enthusiastic and engaged, and we are very conscious that we represent a whole range of AHP professions across the Directorate. I am rapidly beginning to understand the specific challenges facing AHPs within the educational sector, particularly around workforce and the transformation of clinical and leadership AHP roles into those which operate at the ‘top of the licence’ to borrow a phrase from Realistic Medicine. I am committed to developing a visible, challenging, evidence-based vision for AHPs within NES, and have already begun a series of weekly ‘#AHPTalkingHeads’ to communicate with the AHP community across Scotland and beyond.
There is a need now, more than ever, to develop an adaptive, fit for purpose workforce. The pandemic has afforded AHPs a unique opportunity to look at how we equip our present and future workforce with new skills and new ways of teaching and learning at all levels in order to fully support the workforce challenges across the health and care sector in Scotland.”
A Leadership finalist at NHS Scotland’s 2016 Scottish Health Awards, David is a Glasgow Warriors season ticket holder and enjoys pub quizzes, single Islay malts and a fine red Rioja.
November, 19 2020