Paul Smith

Associate Director for Quality and Development

As an associate director in HQIP Paul has responsibility for commissioning and developing a portfolio of national clinical audits and outcome review programmes and supporting and promoting the NCAPOP with funders and other national stakeholders including all devolved nations and crown dependencies.

Paul trained is a nurse and worked clinically for 20 years in critical care across the UK nations, Canada, America, and Saudi Arabia gaining a Masters in Advance Nursing in 2014 with dissertation focussing on use of vaping to assist cessation of smoking. In 2011 Paul was part of the introduction of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS_NSQIP) into British Columbia, Canada. Paul has presented at international conferences in America (ACS-NSQIP) & Canada (Canadian Council of Cardiovascular Nurses). Paul was also lead the first nursing policy for the use of an impeller heart assist device in medium-term critical care. Paul returned to Scotland in 2014 as the clinical coordinator of the critical care national audit (Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit Group, SCISAG) in NHS National Services Scotland National Audits Programme, and in 2021 Paul became the senior nurse in National Procurement for the NHS in Scotland where he advised clinicians and procurement teams from across all health boards in Scotland on value-based care. Paul chaired the committee for the endorsement of transparent face masks in health and social care in Scottland in 2021. Paul has also worked in the Scottish Parliament in its inaugural year in 1999 and has experience of dealing with Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information requests and complaints.