FICM Board Election 2025 - RESULTS!

THOMAS, Elizabeth – Manchester Royal Infirmary
Nominated by Dr Daniele Bryden and Dr Jack Parry-Jones 

This candidate is standing for re-election

What experience do you have in local, regional and national committees, projects and initiatives?  

It has been a huge privilege to be an elected FICM board member for the last 4 years and I am seeking re-election for a second term.

National committees/roles:

• Chair of Women in ICM – 2020 to 2023
• FICM elected board member – 2021 to present
• Section editor for GPICS 3 – 2024 to present.
• Co-founder of Thrive - FICM mentoring project for new consultants – commenced 2021
• FICM committee - Careers, Workforce and Recruitment committee member – 2020 to present
• National medical lead for ICM ST3 recruitment – 2023 – present. In this role I have overseen 2 successful interview processes and this year dual appointments to two specialties at the same time has been implemented. 

Regional

• Greater Manchester Critical Care Network Medical lead – 2022 - present
• I have represented FICM at AoMRC, BMA and other colleges’ events.

I am devoted to enhancing equality – I took part in FICM reverse mentoring - my work with WICM and Thrive showcase this.

I am an Intensive Care consultant at Manchester Royal Infirmary – a 44 bedded tertiary unit – appointed 2023. Prior to this I worked as a consultant at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust for 10 years. I have CCTs in both ICM and anaesthesia. I was Clinical Director for ICM at Stockport for 4 years through the covid pandemic.

I live near Manchester with my husband and two children. I have strong links with ICM consultants locally and in all 4 devolved nations in the UK from my roles.

What would you aim to do if elected to the Board?

If re-elected I would use my enthusiasm, positivity, “can-do” attitude and prior experiences to ensure intensive care medicine continues to grow and develops across all of the UK, to provide the safest working environment for staff and the best outcomes for patients. I am accessible and will continue to promote grass roots ideas and opinions at a national level.

KEATING, Liza – Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Nominated by Dr Sarah Clarke and Dr Stuart McKechnie

What experience do you have in local, regional and national committees, projects and initiatives? 

I am a full-time consultant in ICM and Emergency Medicine at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, a large DGH. My career objective has been to improve standards in training and education, alongside advancing research across the acute care pathway to improve clinical outcomes.

My key roles include:

• Member of the FICM Training Assessment and Quality Committee (FICMTAQ), and currently sit on the Intercollegiate Committee for Acute Common Care Stem (ACCS) Training (2017 ongoing)
• Differential Attainment lead for FICMTAQ (2024 ongoing)
• Represented the Faculty at the national level on several key initiatives: GMC Fairer Training Culture, NHS Strategic Review on Paediatric Critical Care and Specialist Surgery, Paediatric Intensive Care Medicine Specialty Advisory Committee, and contributed to the NCEPOD report on the Transition to Adult Care
• Coordination of an annual regional workshop for ICM recruitment (since 2013)
• Previously member of the FICM Curriculum Working Party and contributed to the ICM curriculum rewrite in line with the GMC Shape of Training framework
• ICM Tutor and Training Programme Director (2016–2022)
• Examiner for FFICM & RCEM
• Decision Editor at the Emergency Medicine Journal (EMJ) since 2023
• RCEM Associate Professor (2018-2022) with research interests ranging from acute pain management, patient experience to imaging studies
• Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Reading (2025).
   

What would you aim to do if elected to the Board?

With your vote, I will continue to use my enthusiasm and experience to support FICM as it navigates towards becoming the College of Intensive Care Medicine. Through the delivery of consultant-led care, the aim is keep patients and families at the centre of all we do and to promote a safe and supportive environment for all staff. It is essential to value, strengthen and celebrate our diverse multidisciplinary team workforce and through collaboration build a sustainable future for intensive care as we work towards becoming an independent medical specialty. 

SHARMAN, Andrew – Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust
Nominated by Dr Sarah Clarke and Dr Matthew Williams

What experience do you have in local, regional and national committees, projects and initiatives? 

From Educational Supervisor to lead Regional Advisor, with time spent as, Faculty Tutor and Training Programme Director, I continue to be heavily involved in training, national recruitment and examinations for the Faculty-FFICM and the RCP-MRCP PACES exams. As a full time clinical ICM consultant, I am aware of the issues facing training and remain determined to find solutions.

As elected Lead Regional Advisor, I am co-opted to Board, and have experience working at Board level, ensuring national ICM training is collaborative, successful, and fit for the future. I continue to publish guidance documents to support trainers and residents. I encourage genuine two-way communication between the Faculty and regional training representatives. I lead national Quality Assurance projects, critically, designing and interpreting the national trainers’ and residents’ surveys, using these to define the challenges and find practical solutions to strengthen ICM training.

I was instrumental in dramatically increasing training numbers in my region and I have extended this drive nationally through biannual workforce data collection, knowing how important this issue is to all but especially small and remote units. The collected data is presented to Faculty and used to ensure ICM is prioritised for training post allocation where it is needed most.

What would you aim to do if elected to the Board?

In preparing to become an independent College, we have an opportunity to establish UK Intensive Care Medicine as a respected and dynamic specialty, able to deliver a consultant-led, multidisciplinary team, rooted in evidence and committed to excellent patient care. I currently represent the views of over 220 Faculty Tutors and 26 Regional Advisors, ensuring that your voices are heard at the highest level. I know how to get things done. I bring a pragmatic, realistic and collaborative approach to shaping change. I ask for your vote, to continue my work for the future College of Intensive Care Medicine.

Overall principle

• Board members who cannot keep to the roles and responsibilities below will be asked to stand down.

Board functions: Meetings, emails, papers, due process

• Board members must attend all meetings of the Board.  Absence should be for exceptional circumstances and discussed with the Dean and Board Secretary.
• Board members must read papers to be able to engage in discussion at Board meetings.
• Board members must engage with Board email discussion, including replying to consultation requests and urgent policy decisions.  
• Board members must be prepared to submit written reports from meetings they attend on the Board’s behalf if they are not able to give an oral report at a Board meeting.
• Board members must adhere to Board level decisions once taken.
• Board members tasked with writing papers for the Board should try to provide these at least two weeks before the date of the meeting where it is due to be discussed to ensure other members have the opportunity to read them.

Capacity and conflicts of interest

• Board members must be prepared to take on additional duties beyond Board meetings, which may include Committee / Working Party membership, representing the FICM on an external group or leading on a piece of work or consultation.  Support will be actively given by the Faculty when trying to negotiate time away with Health Boards and Trusts.
• Board members must list all actual or potential conflicts of interest and be prepared to relinquish any hats where there is direct conflict or to not take part in discussions where there may be a conflict.
• Board members should try to limit their non-hospital / non-job plan responsibilities outside the FICM so they have the capacity to take forward FICM work.
• Board members should try to consult with the Dean before committing to work with external agencies in a personal capacity on matters that may be relevant to the Faculty.

Board members as ambassadors 

• Board members must act as ambassadors to promote the good standing of the Faculty and the specialty of ICM.
• Board members must take decisions with the following priority drivers: for the patient, for the profession, for their organisations, and only then for themselves.
• Board members must be prepared to accept roles offered if they are able to fulfil the role requirements, regardless of their personal interest.  A Board position is not to enable personal self-interest but for the greater good of the specialty and our patients.