Dr David Goldhill MA MD FRCA EDIC

I currently work at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore. Before that I was Director of Critical Care at Barts and The London.

My initial research was about recovery from paralysis. This required staying to the end of long and boring operations. I have participated in many mind-numbing projects since then a few of which have, I believe, made a difference. I think that we need to do the simple and effective things first and that requires identifying critically ill patients as early as possible and having the resources and organisation to provide appropriate care.

This obsession led me into the areas of critical care severity scoring, early recognition of the very sick, and intensive care outreach. My current job has reinforced my belief that critical care support is essential if high-risk surgical patients are to have the best possible outcome. Having moved from a hospital with a large emergency workload I can attest to the enormous benefits of being able to routinely admit major elective surgical patients to the ICU.