Dr John Sneddon thanked for work on clinical ethics forum

Dr John Sneddon has received the Chief Executive’s Award in recognition for his work with the Clinical Ethics Forum. Dr Sneddon was instrumental in setting the forum up and served on it for 13 consecutive years.

Tracy Bullock, chief executive officer, said: “John has been indispensible to us during the pandemic. I know he has had to have some really difficult conversations with people but his expertise and insight has been a real support to colleagues across the Trust as we negotiated the many challenges of Covid.”

Dr Lorraine Corfield, vascular surgeon, said: “John has been an excellent chair and deputy chair, keeping the focus of the forum on support for clinicians in making difficult decisions and in making tireless efforts to move the forum forwards and expand its remit. He has been a grounded lay voice and has never been afraid to speak up, or raise a topic, when there are discussions or debates to be had.

“He has continued to be an active member of the forum and deputy chair throughout the Covid pandemic and to travel to the hospital as needed. He was a key member of the ethics forum subgroup who advised the Trust about resource issues and the 'Decision Making in Covid' framework produced by UHNM. He offered his services freely for urgent ethics consultation throughout the pandemic should urgent subgroups of the forum need to be called to advise clinicians promptly, rather than retrospectively.

“He has been pushing education onto the agenda of the forum and had made good inroads into setting up an ethics conference for UHNM and allied employees and students. Sadly plans for this were thwarted by the Covid outbreak. He has taken on more than his fair share of the forum workload, often producing short papers for discussion on ethical topics and stimulating discussion. His commitment has been second to none and sustained over his 13 years as chair/deputy chair for the forum.”