Bruce Keogh

Sir Bruce Edward Keogh, KBE, FRCS, FRCP, (born 24 November 1954) has been Medical Director of the National Health Service in England since 2007 and National Medical Director of the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS England) since 2013.

Early life

Keogh was born on 24 November 1954 in Harare, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia),^[1] the son of Gerald and Marjorie Beatrice Keogh (née Craig).^[2] He attended the private Catholic boys school St George's College, Harare.

Medical career

Prior to becoming full-time NHS Medical Director in November 2007, Keogh practised as a cardiac surgeon with a special interest in reconstructive mitral valve surgery.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree and MB BS degree from Charing Cross Hospital Medical School part of the University of London in 1977 and 1980 respectively.

He was a demonstrator in anatomy at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School before training in general surgery in London and Sheffield and gaining his FRCS in 1985. He then opted for a career in cardiac surgery, returning to the Hammersmith Hospital as a registrar. During this time he spent a year as a laboratory based British Heart Foundation Junior Research Fellow which led to the award of the MD higher degree in 1989 for research into laser coronary angioplasty. He was appointed as senior registrar on the West London training rotation where he spent time at St George's Hospital and the Harefield Hospital training in cardiac, pulmonary and oesophageal surgery. He was subsequently appointed a university Senior Lecturer in cardiothoracic surgery at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and honorary consultant surgeon at the Hammersmith Hospital between 1991-1995. He then took an NHS consultant position in Birmingham where he became the clinical service lead for cardoithoracic surgery and Associate Medical Director for Clinical Governance at University Hospital Birmingham before being appointed Professor of cardiac surgery at University College London and Director of Surgery at The Heart Hospital in 2004.

In 1994 hes established the National Adult Cardiac Surgical Database and as a consequence he is perhaps best known for his work promoting the measurement, analysis and public disclosure of clinical outcomes. But he has also published numerous peer reviewed scientific articles on coronary artery vasomotor tone, the effect of cardiopulmonary bypass on gut blood flow and function, myocardial protection during surgery, surgery for patients with poor left ventricular function and the effects of social deprivation on cardiac surgical outcomes. He has co-authored a book on the Evidence for Cardiothoracic Surgery (2005) and another on Normal Surface Anatomy (1984). While at UCL he brought the national registries on adult and paediatric cardiac surgery, myocardial infarction, coronary angioplasty and pacemakers into a new National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research.

Keogh has been active on many medical and professional committees. He has been secretary and president of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland, Secretary General of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery^[3] and president of the Cardiothoracic Section of the Royal Society of Medicine and served on the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Board of Directors of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in the US.^[4] He is an elected member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology.

Prior to becoming Medical Director of the National Health Service he served on the National Coronary Heart Disease Taskforce, the NHS Standing Medical Advisory Committee, and was chairman of the NHS Information Taskforce on Clinical Outcomes for the Department of Health. He has also served as Commissioner on the Commission for Health Improvement and the Healthcare Commission.

NHS Medical Director

As Medical Director of the NHS (2007–13) he was a Director General in the Department of Health where he led the Medical Directorate which had oversight for clinical policy and strategy in the NHS. This included the more specific work of the National Clinical Directors and their associated strategies such as those for coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, respiratory disease, renal disease, liver disease, trauma and transplantation. He established the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP)a joint venture between the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the Royal College of Nursing to develop and run the national clinical audits.

Keogh's role also included oversight of the medicines supply chain into the UK, policy relating to the pharmaceutical industry, drug pricing, prescriptions and the role of pharmacy in England and sponsorship of the work programmes of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), including the National Confidential Enquiries and the National Research Ethics Service. Through sponsorship of Medical Education England he had oversight of postgraduate education of doctors, dentists, pharmacists and clinical scientists.

In 2008 he established and co-chaired The Organ Donation Taskforce Programme Delivery Board which has led to a 50% increase in the number of organ donors for transplantation over the following five years.

In 2009 he led a national taskforce to improve neonatal services.^[5]

Following the Lansley reforms of the NHS he was appointed National Medical Director in NHS England from 2013, where he is responsible for promoting a focus on quality, clinical leadership and innovation. With the advent of medical revalidation he became the senior responsible officer in England.

National Reviews

Keogh has published several significant national reviews.

In 2012 he co-chaired a review of medical and dental school intakes on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council and the Department of Health.^[6]

In 2012 he was asked to investigate the safety of PIP breast implants,^[7] a product of fraudulent quality, but concluded that although they were more likely to rupture than other implants they did not pose significant health risk to women a finding endorsed by a subsequent European report ^[8] in 2013

In 2013 he published three significant reports - One on how to improve safety in the cosmetic intervention industry through a review of regulation,^[9] a second, widely known as the Keogh Review on the 14 Trusts with the highest mortality rates in England.^[10] and a third presenting a vision for the future of urgent and emergency care services in England.^[11]

He is currently leading a forum on how to move the NHS towards greater 7 day services. Initial recommendations were approved by the NHS England Board in December 2013.^[12]

Honours

Keogh was appointed as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 2003.^[1] He subsequently became a British citizen, and as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours on 11 June 2005, his knighthood became substantive (back dated to 5 February 2004).^[13]

Keogh is an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the American College of Surgeons and the British Society of Interventional Radiology. He has been a visiting professor at universities in Japan, China and North America. Closer to home he has been King James IV Professor ^[14] of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (2005) and Tudor Edwards lecturer (2007), and Hunterian Orator (2013) for the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Kinmonth Lecturer (2013) jointly for the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

He holds honorary medical doctorates from the universities of Birmingham and Sheffield and Doctorates of Science from the University of Toledo and Coventry University. He is a member of the Lunar Society, on the council of the British Heart Foundation and a vice patron of the Royal British Legion Poppy Factory.^[15] He was a judge for the inaugural 2010 Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine.

During 2013 he was said by the Health Service Journal to be the most influential clinician^[16] and the sixth most powerful person in the English NHS.^[17] In 2014 he was included in the Sunday Times and Debretts list of Britain's 500 most influential people.

Personal life

Keogh has been married to his wife, Ann, since they met at medical school. The couple have four sons, whose names are, in descending order of age, Robert, Christopher, William and Michael.

References