Dr Andrew Vallance-Owen

Independent sector

Andrew Vallance-Owen is Group Medical Director of BUPA, which is a not for profit organisation whose principal interests are in private hospitals, health insurance and care homes. He trained as a surgeon at Newcastle on Tyne, but after a year doing surgery in Melbourne returned to the United Kingdom and joined the staff of the British Medical Association. He was there for 11 years during which time, among other things, he was responsible for the Association’s Legal Department, defending a number of high profile doctors who had contractual problems, and led for the BMA in their campaign for no fault compensation. He joined BUPA in 1994 as Medical Director of their Hospital Division, and was promoted to become Group Medical Director in 1995. He has written on clinical risk, the setting of quality standards and clinical audit; he is a passionate advocate of patient empowerment and shared decision making. He was appointed to the Forum to represent the private medicine sector.