David is a Consultant in Upper Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Wall Surgery working at the North Devon Comprehensive Hernia Centre in Barnstaple, Devon, part of the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The Centre is currently developing its robotic abdominal wall hernia surgery programme. His undergraduate training was at Guy’s and St. Thomas’s Hospitals Medical School, London. In addition to higher specialist training in the UK, he trained in Australia and South Africa. His clinical interests include robotic surgery, day-case surgery, abdominal wall reconstruction and hernia repair, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), anti-reflux surgery and bile duct exploration. He has an interest in the role of emerging technology in ambulatory surgical care and recently organised a national meeting on emergency surgery, chairing and speaking on day case robotics in the technology focus session. David has been involved in service improvement initiatives, including working with the Devon Sustainability and Transformation Project (STP) in 2019 as Surgical Lead for a series of Intensity Gradient workshops to increase day surgery rates in the region. He worked with the Integrated Care system in 2020/2021 as a Clinical Champion in General Surgery on the Surgical Restoration in Devon Project and worked with GiRFT South West on the regional Cholecystectomy Workstream Focus session. David became a British Association of Day Surgery (BADS) Council member in 2018 and was Editor of the Journal of One Day Surgery until December 2021. He took on the position of BADS President in June 2023. As part of this role, he works closely with several national organisations, including NHS England, through the Getting it Right First Time (GiRFT) programme to promote excellence and maximise delivery of UK day surgery.