David was appointed as an Interim Deputy Chief Medical Officer within the Scottish Government in October 2020, to support the response to the Coronavirus Pandemic, notably focussing on NHS Recovery, Winter Planning, Clinical Prioritisation, Ethnicity and Inequalities, and Realistic Medicine.
He had previously been Head of Leadership, Culture and Wellbeing for the Health and Social Care Workforce since July 2018, having had a strong interest in clinical and system leadership within NHS Scotland and the wider public sector. This built on his work as the Chair of the Project Lift team (www.projectlift.scot), established as a collaborative in September 2017, which is pioneering a novel approach to talent management and leadership development within NHS Scotland.
He joined the Scottish Government at the National Clinical Advisor to the Chief Medical Officer (Scotland) in February 2016, advising on secondary care services including establishing the Scottish Trauma Network in 2017, as well as engaging with the clinical workforce and civil service on the National Clinical Strategy, Realistic Medicine, workforce issues and leadership. He is a Senior Fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, and is a trustee of the Medic 1 Trust and Save a Life for Scotland charities.
This portfolio affords him some time away from being out-negotiated by his 3 children.
