27 October 2021

A senior Frimley Health consultant has been awarded a top honour for his contribution to urgent and emergency care over many years.

Dr Prem Premachandran was chosen by Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, to receive this year’s President’s Medal award.

Dr Premachandran has worked as a consultant in emergency medicine at Frimley Health for 25 years. He was the trust’s clinical lead for emergency medicine during the redevelopment of Frimley Park Hospital’s emergency department, opened in 2012. He was also a leading light when Frimley Park Hospital joined with Heatherwood & Wexham Park Hospitals to become Frimley Health in 2014 and during the building of Wexham Park Hospital’s £50m Emergency Assessment Centre which opening in 2019.

Alongside this Dr Premachandran has been the National Professional Adviser in Urgent and Emergency Care for the Care Quality Commission, dividing his time between working as a consultant at Frimley Park Hospital’s ED and the CQC.

Dr Henderson praised Dr Premachandran’s role in supporting improvements to patient safety and helping to develop a deeper understanding between emergency department practitioners and the CQC’s quality inspection team. 

Dr Premachandran said: “I am immensely proud to receive this award and means so much coming from the Royal College. A great deal has changed in emergency medicine over the past 25 years, and I continue to enjoy working with colleagues locally and nationally to help improve patient safety and contribute to solutions to the NHS’s significant challenges.”

The award, given annually to just one of the RCEM’s members each year, is named the Dr Clifford Mann President’s Medal in honour of a former RCEM president who died earlier this year.