Dr Ian Higginson

Who Dr Ian Higginson is

Dr Ian Higginson is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, with a sub-specialty interest in Paediatric Emergency Medicine, and is also an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Plymouth with an academic and teaching practice in clinical leadership and professionalism. He trained initially as a GP before transitioning to emergency medicine, and has volunteered with BASICS Devon providing pre-hospital immediate medical care since 2006, as well as working with Cornwall Air Ambulance since 2018. He formally became President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) on 11 September 2025, having previously served as one of its Vice Presidents; his appointment was ratified by the College's Council in January 2025. He is a prominent public advocate on emergency department crowding, NHS workforce sustainability, corridor care, and violence and aggression against ED staff.

References for this biography

1. 1.New RCEM President takes office – RCEM — Confirms Dr Higginson formally became RCEM President on 11 September 2025, succeeding Dr Adrian Boyle, and his prior role as Vice President
2. 2.RCEM announces next President – RCEM — Confirms appointment ratified January 2025, his GP and Emergency Physician background, paediatric EM interest, Plymouth University academic role, and policy focus on crowding, workforce and standards
3. 3.Dr Ian Higginson on overcoming challenges in emergency medicine – Hospital Healthcare Europe — Details his clinical background, his arguments on ED crowding, workforce shortages, investment in capacity and social care, and his call for long-term structural reform
4. 4.Doctor made Royal College of Emergency Medicine President – Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust — Confirms his consultant role at University Hospitals Plymouth, Cornwall Air Ambulance work since 2018, and BASICS Devon volunteering since 2006
5. 5.Dr Ian Higginson – University of Plymouth staff profile — Confirms his Honorary Associate Professor role in the Faculty of Health at the University of Plymouth
6. 6.'It's a political failure': England's EDs experience second worst October on record for 12-hour waits – RCEM — Example of Dr Higginson's public advocacy as President; confirms RCEM lobbying secured per-hospital A&E data publication
7. 7.Latest News / Press contact – RCEM — Confirms RCEM organisational press contact email (communications@rcem.ac.uk) and Dr Higginson's ongoing role issuing press statements as President

Notable achievements

• Formally became President of RCEM on 11 September 2025, succeeding Dr Adrian Boyle at the College's Annual General Meeting, having been ratified as President-Elect by the College's Council in January 2025. Source ↗
• Led RCEM lobbying that secured NHS England's commitment to publish A&E performance data for each individual hospital for the first time, announced in November 2025. Source ↗
• Holds an Honorary Associate Professor post in the Faculty of Health at the University of Plymouth, with a focus on clinical leadership and professionalism in Emergency Medicine training. Source ↗
• Has worked with Cornwall Air Ambulance as a doctor since 2018, alongside his NHS consultant role at University Hospitals Plymouth. Source ↗

What Dr Ian Higginson has said

• “Long stays are a blight on the emergency care system and we know that each year they result in the loss of thousands of lives in England alone.”

  president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 30 Sept 2026 · Damning data shows elderly and frail more likely to face 12-hour waits in A&E ↗

• “Delayed discharges — where patients who have no medical need to stay in hospital cannot be discharged, largely due to the unavailability of follow-on services — result in a log jam effect that causes overcrowding in emergency departments and puts lives at risk.”

  president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Adult social care & reform · 30 Sept 2026 · Shocking scale of A&E waits at NHS hospitals revealed ↗

• “Most paediatric emergency care in the UK is provided in general emergency departments – almost a quarter (23%) of our patients are children.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · Children seeking A&E care are being let down, top doctor warns ↗

• “If we had 16,000 patients a year dying in bus crashes or in aircraft crashes or anywhere else there would be such howls of outrage something would be done about it”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · ‘Enough is enough’: Calls mount to reopen Kent A&E amid record corridor waits ↗

• “Corridor care is now becoming commonplace in our emergency departments and patients who are in need of a bed cannot get one.”

  president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · Elderly patients twice as likely to endure A&E waiting times of more than 12 hours ↗

• “Corridor care is now becoming commonplace in our emergency departments and patients who are in need of a bed cannot get one.”

  president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · Elderly more likely to face long A&E waits than young people in latest indictment of NHS corridor care crisis ↗

• “The system is in a state of permacrisis. Our hospitals do not work efficiently seven days a week, and services aren't open when they are needed. Delayed discharges – where patients who have no medical need to stay in hospital cannot be discharged, largely due to the unavailability of follow-on services – result in a log-jam effect that causes overcrowding in emergency departments and puts lives at risk.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · More than 1.7m waited over 12 hours in A&E last year, bombshell report suggests ↗

• “First, we want to thank DHSC and NHSE for delivering on their commitment to publish A&E performance data for each and every Emergency Department. This was the result of intense lobbying by RCEM and for the first time, it paints the true and transparent picture of the pressures and challenges we are facing. And it's bleak.”

  President of RCEM · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · England’s Emergency Departments Faced Second-Worst October for 12-Hour Waits ↗

• “There is a lot to unpack in this publication from NHS England, which will have utility in helping organisations adopt a more standardised approach to the provision of emergency care facilities in England. In isolation this document is unlikely to have meaningful impact on reducing overcrowding given that it relates to only one piece of the jigsaw.”

  president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · NHS to introduce 'four-hour' rule in A&E across UK hospitals ↗

• “The number of deaths linked to long stays in our emergency departments explicitly show the system is failing the patients it is meant to be caring for. It's shocking.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · Deaths related to long ED waits surge almost tenfold ↗

• “We have to ask why this awful problem isn't the subject of relentless focus and political conversation? The number of deaths linked to long stays in our emergency departments explicitly show the system is failing the patients it is meant to be caring for.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · Preventable deaths of almost 16,000 patients last year in A&E in England ↗

• “People are dying in association with overcrowding in Emergency Departments. This should be cause for alarm among policymakers, and yet we are not seeing any urgency.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 30 Sept 2026 · New study links A&E overcrowding to hundreds of preventable deaths every week ↗

• “Patients who would prefer to be at home may end up in our corridors, which are not the right places for anyone, let alone those who are at the end of their lives.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Palliative & end of life care · 30 Sept 2026 · Hospitals warned end-of-life care crisis threatening treatment ↗

• “The system is in a state of permacrisis. Our hospitals do not work efficiently seven days a week, and services aren't open when they are needed. Delayed discharges — where patients who have no medical need to stay in hospital cannot be discharged, largely due to the unavailability of follow-on services — result in a log jam effect that causes overcrowding in emergency departments and puts lives at risk.”

  president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 29 Sept 2026 · Fears over impact of council cost cutting on A&E waits at Warrington Hospital ↗

• “No-one should go to work fearing – or, worse, expecting – to be attacked, intimidated or abused. Nor should they lack confidence that their employers have their backs, or that the judicial system will kick in. Yet, that's the reality faced by the majority of my colleagues in emergency departments across the country.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 29 Sept 2026 · A&E staff face violence or aggression on a daily or weekly basis ↗

• “The system is in a state of permacrisis. Our hospitals do not work efficiently seven days a week, and services aren't open when they are needed. Delayed discharges – where patients who have no medical need to stay in hospital cannot be discharged, largely due to the unavailability of follow-on services – result in a log-jam affect that causes overcrowding in emergency departments and puts lives at risk.”

  president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 29 Sept 2026 · Over 1.7 million waited for more than 12 hours for A&E care last year – review ↗

• “People are dying in association with overcrowding in emergency departments. This should be cause for alarm among policymakers, and yet we are not seeing any urgency.”

  president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 29 Sept 2026 · Overcrowding in A&E linked to 'hundreds of deaths a week', study finds ↗

• “People are dying in association with overcrowding in Emergency Departments. This should be cause for alarm among policymakers, and yet we are not seeing any urgency.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · NHS waiting lists · 29 Sept 2026 · A&E overcrowding kills, doctors call for urgent action ↗

• “People experiencing a mental health crisis deserve appropriate, therapeutic and timely care. This report is yet further evidence that this is, frequently, not the case – and it is putting lives at risk.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Mental health · 29 Sept 2026 · EDs unequipped to handle mental health care demands ↗

• “People experiencing a mental health crisis deserve appropriate, therapeutic and timely care. This report is yet further evidence that this is, frequently, not the case – and it is putting lives at risk.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Mental health · 29 Sept 2026 · ‘Harrowing’ A&E experiences for mental health patients ↗

• “This report reveals the reality of so-called 'corridor care' in England. Put simply – it's a source of national shame.”

  RCEM president · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 8 Sept 2026 · MPs brand NHS corridor care crisis a ‘source of national shame’ ↗

• “Whilst we welcome the government's stated commitment to eliminate corridor care, until we prioritise patients who experience long waits for admission, we will not get to the bottom of the whole issue.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 8 Sept 2026 · A&E pressures putting nurses at risk from ‘moral distress and moral injury’ ↗

• “Older patients are bearing the brunt of a failure to act. How many more reports from expert bodies do we need before we see this change?”

  president of RCEM · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 8 Sept 2026 · Delayed discharges rise by 70% in five years ↗

• “No one should go to work fearing or, worse, expecting to be attacked, intimidated or abused. Nor should they lack confidence that their employers have their backs, or that the judicial system will kick in. Yet that's the reality faced by the majority of my colleagues in EDs [emergency departments] across the country.”

  president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 8 Sept 2026 · Almost 75% of A&E staff face violence or aggression ↗

• “The study "reinforces that the shameful practice of corridor care is endemic in emergency departments in the UK". He added that "The stark picture this paper paints reflects the stories we hear from our members nationwide – the volume of which are growing as we head into winter."”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Corridor care ‘endemic’ in UK, doctors say as study reveals scale of problem ↗

• “Emergency departments across the UK are "in big trouble" owing to the way corridor care has been "normalised". If we had 16,000 patients a year dying in bus crashes or in aircraft crashes or anywhere else there would be such howls of outrage something would be done about it. The solutions are to make hospitals more efficient; to provide more staff to beds in hospitals and to improve community-based and social care so that patients can leave hospital where they need to.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · A&Es in ‘big trouble’ because of ‘normalised’ corridor care, says leading UK medic ↗

• “This is a symptom of the healthcare system not working as it was designed to. Just like our EDs [emergency departments], our colleagues in primary and community services are at capacity when their services are open, but those services often aren't open when patients need them.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Huge rise in number of people in England’s A&Es for coughs or hiccups ↗

• “We have to ask why this awful problem isn't the subject of relentless focus and political conversation. The number of deaths linked to long stays in our emergency departments explicitly show the system is failing the patients it is meant to be caring for.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · More than 1,300 deaths a month in England due to long A&E waits, figures suggest ↗

• “Corridor care is utterly unacceptable. It's an undignified and dangerous way to deal with patients. Attempts to better understand, and ultimately end, this awful and dangerous practice are welcome. We hope that the publication of this data will mean trusts and policymakers will begin to take stern action on curbing it.”

  president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Nearly 3,000 NHS patients a day receiving corridor care in England, figures show ↗

• “I would like to congratulate the team at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust who have been awarded a Bronze accreditation through RCEM's GreenED programme.”

  President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine · A&E & ambulance response · 12 Aug 2026 · Eco award for Stepping Hill Hospital’s A&E department ↗

Recent social activity

• I will be pausing activity on this account but please find me on LinkedIn or wherever I end up, and RCEM will still be active on other social media platforms.

  x.com ↗

• Here’s my personal spot on LinkedIn https://t.co/gh6nPn7wVc

  x.com ↗

Where Dr Ian Higginson has been quoted

1. RCEM issues new toolkit to combat rising violence against Emergency Department staffnationalhealthexecutive.com · 12 Oct 2026
2. Damning data shows elderly and frail more likely to face 12-hour waits in A&Eaol.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
3. Shocking scale of A&E waits at NHS hospitals revealedexpress.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
4. Children seeking A&E care are being let down, top doctor warnslbc.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
5. ‘Enough is enough’: Calls mount to reopen Kent A&E amid record corridor waitskentonline.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
6. Elderly patients twice as likely to endure A&E waiting times of more than 12 hoursindependent.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
7. Elderly more likely to face long A&E waits than young people in latest indictment of NHS corridor care crisislbc.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
8. More than 1.7m waited over 12 hours in A&E last year, bombshell report suggestslbc.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
9. England’s Emergency Departments Faced Second-Worst October for 12-Hour Waitsnationalhealthexecutive.com · 30 Sept 2026
10. NHS to introduce 'four-hour' rule in A&E across UK hospitalsmanchestereveningnews.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
11. Deaths related to long ED waits surge almost tenfoldhealthcare-management.uk · 30 Sept 2026
12. Preventable deaths of almost 16,000 patients last year in A&E in Englandwsws.org · 30 Sept 2026
13. New study links A&E overcrowding to hundreds of preventable deaths every weeknationalhealthexecutive.com · 30 Sept 2026
14. Hospitals warned end-of-life care crisis threatening treatmentbbc.com · 30 Sept 2026
15. Fears over impact of council cost cutting on A&E waits at Warrington Hospitalwarringtonguardian.co.uk · 29 Sept 2026
16. A&E staff face violence or aggression on a daily or weekly basislbc.co.uk · 29 Sept 2026
17. Over 1.7 million waited for more than 12 hours for A&E care last year – reviewcareappointments.com · 29 Sept 2026
18. Overcrowding in A&E linked to 'hundreds of deaths a week', study findsnews.sky.com · 29 Sept 2026
19. A&E overcrowding kills, doctors call for urgent actioncambrian-news.co.uk · 29 Sept 2026
20. EDs unequipped to handle mental health care demandsnursingtimes.net · 29 Sept 2026
21. ‘Harrowing’ A&E experiences for mental health patientshippocraticpost.com · 29 Sept 2026
22. MPs brand NHS corridor care crisis a ‘source of national shame’nursingtimes.net · 8 Sept 2026
23. A&E pressures putting nurses at risk from ‘moral distress and moral injury’nursingtimes.net · 8 Sept 2026
24. Delayed discharges rise by 70% in five yearsdoctors.net.uk · 8 Sept 2026
25. Almost 75% of A&E staff face violence or aggressiontheguardian.com · 8 Sept 2026
26. Corridor care ‘endemic’ in UK, doctors say as study reveals scale of problemtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
27. A&Es in ‘big trouble’ because of ‘normalised’ corridor care, says leading UK medictheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
28. Huge rise in number of people in England’s A&Es for coughs or hiccupstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
29. More than 1,300 deaths a month in England due to long A&E waits, figures suggesttheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
30. Nearly 3,000 NHS patients a day receiving corridor care in England, figures showtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
31. Eco award for Stepping Hill Hospital’s A&E departmentbuxtonadvertiser.co.uk · 12 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

• Emergency doctor 'completely terrified' of looming winter pressures on NHSBBC
• Leaders in Care Awards 2026 | Lifetime Achievement: Care Homes winner revealedHome Care Insight
• GP architect of neighbourhood health reforms to leave NHS EnglandPulse Today

Contact & links

• Xhttps://x.com/RCEMpresidentpublished here ↗
• Staff pagehttps://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/ian-higginson
• Press office emailcommunications@rcem.ac.ukpublished here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.