Bernie Marden

Previously, Bernie was Chief Medical Officer at NHS Somerset.

A neonatal paediatrician by background having qualified in London in 1992, he worked in several hospitals in the South West before undertaking a Neonatal Fellowship in Vancouver.

In 2004 he was appointed as a Consultant Paediatrician and Neonatologist at the Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Bath. During his time at RUH he was the first Divisional Director for Women and Children, paving the way for maternity services to be brought into the organisation.

He became Medical Director at RUH in 2017. As a member of the BSW Acute Hospitals Alliance he was senior responsible officer for the shared electronic health record program. Bernie has served as Chair of the South West Paediatric Critical Care Operational Delivery Network.

Since joining NHS Somerset ICB Bernie has enjoyed working with colleagues in Primary Care and the wider system, applying his considerable leadership experience in new contexts.

Together with Shelagh, Chief Nursing Officer, he has been responsible for developing strong and engaged system wide clinical and care professional leadership. Now joining with colleagues from BSW and Dorset he is looking forward to forming new relationships and supporting them as we are met with new challenges and opportunities.

With a master’s in medical law and ethics, he is passionate about promoting an approach which is fair, reasonable, and just. His overarching motivation is around prioritising safe and excellent quality care, delivered in a way that makes sense to the local population to improve health and care outcomes for the population.