A memorial service for our late colleague and renal consultant Professor Donal O’Donoghue will be held at the Royal College of Physicians in Liverpool next Wednesday, 6 October.
This joint memorial will be hosted by the RCP, UK Kidney Association and Kidney Care UK and will feature presentations and reflections on Donal’s life and career.
England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty will give the inaugural O’Donoghue lecture (via webinar) on the role of the medical profession in tackling UK health disparities and the afternoon of events will be introduced by Donal’s close friend and colleague Professor Phil Kalra, also a renal consultant at Salford Royal and the NCA’s Director of Research and Innovation. Donal’s family and renal patients will also give their reflections, alongside tributes from Dr Andrew Goddard, President of the RCP, and Dr Graham Lipkin, immediate Past President of the Renal Association.
During the afternoon, the RCP’s new fundraising initiative, the O’Donoghue Wall, including a new portrait of Donal, will be unveiled.
As Donal touched so many lives during his career and was loved and appreciated by the wider medical family, the memorial will be livestreamed from 1pm and the link to register is here:
https://player.rcplondon.ac.uk/live/Professor-Donal-ODonoghue-memorial
Anyone registering has to set up an account with the RCP in order to attend but it is entirely free. The event will still be available for viewing later for those who are unable to join on the day.
During his many years at Salford Royal (formerly Hope Hospital) Manchester-born Donal led the reorganisation of renal services and established the first managed clinical network in England.
He was inaugural president of the multi-professional British Renal Society. Between 2006 and 2013 he led the implementation of the Renal National Service Framework as the first ever national director of kidney care at the Department of Health. Donal was president of the Renal Association (now the UK Kidney Association) from 2016 until 2018 and was awarded an OBE for services to kidney patients in 2018.
Donal was passionate about professionalism in medicine, innovation and quality improvement in health and care. At the RCP Donal was responsible for
clinical and professional affairs, including membership, governance, regional activity, global programmes and relationships with the NHS.
In addition to clinical duties in Salford, Donal remained active in training and research. He chaired the Greater Manchester, Lancashire and South Cumbria Senate and was medical director of Health Innovation Manchester. He was chair of the patient support charity Kidney Care UK.