Portfolio
Professor Derek Bell OBE is group chair to the Board for North Tees and Hartlepool and South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as part of University Hospitals Tees group model of care. Derek works closely with Group CEO and other board members on a day-to-day basis.
Core objectives
- Chair the University Hospitals Tees group board
- Chair the council of governors of each trust and statutory boards
- Support the executive team
- Ensure University Hospitals Tees delivers benefits for the population, patients and staff
- Deliver high-quality, cost-effective services
- Ensure we are an integral part of the Tees Valley and wider North East and Cumbria landscape
Background
Professor Bell is a physician by background, with over 40 years’ experience in the NHS, including service design and delivery as well as research and education. His remit has included working as an external advisor to Government in England, Scotland and Ireland, as well as internationally.
He was awarded an OBE in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to unscheduled care and quality Improvement and was previously president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from 2014 to 2020.
Derek studied at the University of Edinburgh graduating in 1980. He was appointed as the first professor of acute medicine at Imperial College London and continues to be an emeritus professor.
He has also led a number of initiatives, including the development of a new medical specialty (acute medicine) and the development of a nationally adopted clinical scoring system (NEWS) to assess acutely unwell patients.
He was elected as the inaugural president of the Society for Acute Medicine (SAM) in 2000. In 2013, he was awarded an Honorary Life Fellowship to SAM.
Professor Bell has over 220 peer reviewed publications and his research grant awards exceeded £22 million.
Derek is fully committed to inspiring health and care nationally and internationally, visiting and undertaking commissioned reviews of health care systems around the world.
Body membership
- Fellow Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh
- Honorary professor, University of Edinburgh, Medicine
- Past president, Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh
- Inaugural president of the Society for Acute Medicine (SAM) in 2000
- Honorary Life Fellowship for Society of Acute Medicine (SAM)
- Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE)
- Newcastle University council member
Ambitions for the group
- Build collaborative working across the two trusts to ensure we provide the best care for the population of Tees Valley, North Yorkshire and beyond
- Maximise our estate and footprint, improving services and hospitals by ensuring we continue to invest in estates and infrastructure
- Ensure we deliver on recruiting and valuing staff at scale, fostering a compassionate and inclusive workforce with career development opportunities
- Have a robust health and social care system that is focused on reducing health inequalities and enhancing the health of our population
- Increase visibility and impact, and lead in research and innovation in the region
- Strive to be a UK leader in demonstrating partnership working, improving health and care for our population, across the region
- Delivering more together for the population we serve by:
- Ensuring respect, compassion and dignity in everything we do
- Learning from all – everyone counts
- Improving by working together across the communities we serve
Ambitions for the Tees Valley health and care landscape
- Continue to develop community services and the population’s access to health on their doorstep with development such as community diagnostic centre and the management of urgent treatment centres
- The very best care for everyone
- Respect, compassion and dignity for all
- Provide equity of access to services and outcomes
- Improve lives by working together across the communities we serve
- Ensure patients, service users and carers are at the heart of everything we do
- Assure a positive culture is maintained which is transparent to all