Professor David Haslam

A FORMER Ramsey GP has been named as head of an NHS organisation which gives advice to doctors and nurses on healthcare standards.

Professor David Haslam, pictured, will take over as chairman of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) from April.

He was named as the Government’s preferred candidate for the role in December and was subsequently approved by MPs on the House of Commons Select Committee. His appointment was then ratified by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Prof Haslam, who was awarded a CBE in 2004 for services to medicine and healthcare, was a GP at the Ramsey Health Centre until 2011, having started in general practice in 1976.

He is an experienced publisher and broadcaster on health issues and is already chairman of NICE’s Evidence Accreditation Advisory Committee.

He will be only the second chairman of NICE, taking over from Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, who has led the organisation since its creation in 1999.