Professor Sir Norman Williams
Biography
Sir Norman was appointed as the Chair of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel in 2019 by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
He originally practised as a colorectal surgeon and was professor of surgery at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London until 2016. He was president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 2011 to 2014 and knighted for services to surgery in the 2015 New Year’s Honours List.
He was the medical advisor to Sir Robert Francis’ Freedom to Speak Up Review commissioned by the Secretary of State in 2014 and chaired NHS England’s National Patient Safety Collaborative from 2014 to 2016.
As senior clinical advisor to the Secretary of State from 2015 to 2018, he chaired the rapid policy review of gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare.
Since 2018 he has chaired the National Consultant Information Programme, a free data platform that allows consultants to review their own data to improve clinical quality and patient safety and support career development. This is part of the Getting it Right First Time national improvement programme for NHS England.
He is currently president of Bowel Research UK, a registered charity that supports patients by funding innovative research.
Chair, Independent Reconfiguration Panel
The Chair has overall responsibility for the Independent Reconfiguration Panel to provide expert advice on NHS reconfigurations or significant service change to ministers.