Dr David Snashall leaves HSE

HSE press release E095:03 - 6 June 2003

Dr David Snashall's five-year secondment to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as part-time Chief Medical Adviser comes to an end on 30 June 2003.

David is returning to Guy's, King's and St.Thomas' Medical school, where he will resume teaching and research work and continue as Director of Occupational Health Services at Guy's and St.Thomas' NHS Trust.

Over the last five years David has provided the professional occupational medical advice that HSE needed during the development of Securing Health Together and has represented HSE widely, both in the UK and abroad.

The Securing Health Together agenda is now moving into a new phase involving collaborative work with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), which became HSE's sponsor department in 2002. In light of these developments and access to DWP's medical expertise, HSE will not be appointing a new Chief Medical Adviser.

Timothy Walker, HSE's Director General said, "David Snashall has brought to HSE an extensive practical knowledge of occupational medicine; he was the author of the British Medical Journal's ABC of Work Related Disorders and is co-writing a new version called ABC of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He has used his extensive range of contacts in the UK and abroad to help further HSE's occupational health agenda.

"We are very grateful for all that David has done while with HSE and I am pleased that we will not be losing contact with him, as he will still act as an external adviser and will continue to organise HSE's series of successful Chief Medical Adviser seminars."

Notes to editors

1. Dr David Snashall has been Chief Medical Adviser to HSE since 1998. He is also Head of Occupational Health Services at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Hospital Trust and of the Academic Department of Occupational Medicine at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Medical School, part of King's College, London. He is also involved in various teaching and research programmes.

2. He has worked as an occupational physician for 25 years in the UK and abroad, with particular interests in the health of construction workers, expatriates and those working in the health care sector. For 10 years he was Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

3. Dr Snashall trained in medicine at Edinburgh University Medical School and in Occupational Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He also holds a Medical Law Degree from the University of Wales. He is a member of the International Commission on Occupational Health, serves as a board member on the UK Faculty of Occupational Medicine and is an appointed member of the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom. He sits as an observer on the Government's Advisory Committees on occupational health and on ionising radiation.

4. Dr David Snashall is co-writing ABC of Occupational and Environmental Medicine with Dipti Patel, who is a Senior Medical Officer at the BBC.

Press enquiries

All enquiries from journalists should be directed to the HSE Press Office