OBE for Plymouth hospital consultant

Colonel Parkhouse, a Consultant Anaesthetist at Derriford Hospital and also Military Clinical Director of the hospital’s Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit (MDHU), has been awarded the OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list.

Colonel Parkhouse has received this outstanding recognition for the commitment and support to Army Anaesthesia and the wide Army Medical Services over the past years, both on operations and in the United Kingdom.

Tim Jones, Commanding Officer of the hospital’s Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit said: “This does not surprise me at all. He is an outstanding individual in all respects and has done much to cement the working relationship between military and the Trust, and has been invaluable to me over the last few months.”

Colonel Parkhouse said: “From a personal perspective, this is a great honour with which I am very proud. There are a great number of very committed people working in the Defence Medical Services and to be recognised out of this group is a great honour.

“During my career, the military has sent me to many locations, both in the UK and around the world, deploying me on operations over 12 times since becoming a consultant. This has led me to honestly believe that our strongest asset both in the Defence Medical Services and the NHS is our people, who when appropriately trained, equipped and led, can achieve almost anything."

Joining the Royal Army Medical Corps as a medical student, Colonel Parkhouse qualified and went on to spend two years as a Regimental Medical Officer. He then started anaesthetic training and became a consultant anaesthetist and intensive care consultant in 2003, based at a regional burns unit in Essex. In 2013, he joined Derriford Hospital within the anaesthetic department and then took up the position of Military Clinical Director in 2014.