I am delighted to announce that the SMMC Trustees have appointed Dr Ben Shippey as the Club’s Medical Adviser. Ben takes over from Dr John Harrington who is stepping down after 2 years of service in that role.
As Medical Adviser, Ben is a member of SMMC's Committee and will work with the Trustees on the clinical governance of the Rescue Team and the first aid training for Club members. He also leads our Motorsport Medical Group - a community of interest aimed at anyone that has an interest in sharing best practice and information about medicine and pre-hospital care in a motorsport setting.
Ben will be known to many! He is a Consultant Anaesthetist and Intensive Care Specialist with NHS Tayside and has a wide clinical experience of anaesthesia and critical care. In addition to his medical experience, he is also a highly skilled motorsport medic and sits on Motorsport UK's Medical Committee.
As well as attendances at Silverstone, Snetterton, Croft, Oulton Park and Knockhill, he has been a trackside doctor at the British Grand Prix for 20+ years and has been a full-time member of TOCA Safety Team covering the British Touring Cars Championship for the last 5 years.
He has been a Stage Doctor on a large number of rallies, and was Chief Medical Officer for Scottish Hill Rally, Lombard RAC Rally and Wales Rally GB. He is currently CMO for Mull Rally.
Although John Harrington is stepping down, he is far from retirement; we will continue to hear his dulcet tones on the radio as Tartan 87.
John writes,
"The time has come for me to relinquish the role of Medical Adviser to the SMMC as I have not been practicing Trauma Medicine since my retirement from the day job. I am proud to have been a member of Scottish Motorsport Marshals Club for many years now. As it says on the tin, this is a club for marshals and it is ideally placed to be an organisation where all are welcome, where great resource and experience can be found and where up to the mark training can take place. It does all of these things well.
"From this base, when it comes to more specialised marshalling disciplines such as Medical and Rescue, the club is well placed to nurture those. I have always felt that just like all other marshals much value can be gained for medics from a sense of belonging to like-minded and skilled individuals. It was then a great honour to be invited to become the first Medical Adviser to SMMC, albeit very late in my medical career, and to be associated with the Motorsport Medical Group at its inception. For me, this is exactly what we have been needing and I am delighted to see how well it has been received as an information and training resource, and indeed as a place where we can belong. The MMG has come about only with the enthusiasm of the SMMC Committee and Trustees and I pay tribute to them for that, but would particularly like to acknowledge the drive and enthusiasm of Jon Bolton whose knowledge, drive and IT skills made it all possible.
"I am also delighted that my friend and colleague Dr Ben Shippey has agreed to become the next Medical Adviser to SMMC. We have known each other for a long time, but I particularly fondly remember making his acquaintance when we both attended an Advanced Trauma Life Support course at Silverstone in 2000. Ben has gone on to develop a great deal of experience in different medical motorsport disciplines and is Chief Medical Officer to the highest level events. He is a great thinker and teacher and I wish him well in the next chapter."