Richard Turnock

I was appointed as a consultant paediatric surgeon at Alder Hey in 1993, having qualified in medicine from the University of Liverpool in 1977 and undertook my postgraduate training at both Alder Hey and Great Ormond Street.

In 2013 I was appointed to the Trust Board as the Executive Medical Director, retiring at 63 in 2018. I returned as Deputy MD during lockdown for 6 months, during which time, Fiona approached me to ask if I would be interested in joining the charity as a Trustee when I had finally finished at the Trust. She explained that the Charity had made a strategic decision to have a retired AH clinician as a Trustee, both to provide clinical insight to the Board, but also specifically to Chair the Charitable Spending Committee.

I believe that my experience and clinical skill set has been invaluable, particularly to the Charitable Spending Committee. In addition, having worked with both clinicians and senior management at the Trust has enabled closer working relationships with the AHCC Board.

I really enjoy the role, and believe the strategy has been very successful, and after I finish my term as a Trustee, then I would strongly advocate the Board should ensure that my successor should again be a retired AH clinician.

Very few people know – even some of my family and close friends, but in 1970 at the tender age of 15, I was the English Schools’ National Lifesaving Champion.