A SPINAL expert from The James Cook University Hospital has been appointed to the NHS Commissioning Board as the national clinical director for back disorders.

Professor Charles Greenough, clinical director of spinal injuries at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will join the board along with 20 other appointed medical experts.

He said: “I’m very excited to be taking on this role. I can see a huge amount of things that can be done and I really hope it’s going to improve things for patients.

“For many years doctors and nurses have thought that if only they had more input into commissioning, things would be much improved.

"I think that the Commissioning Board can now take the consensus that doctors, nurses and therapists have about patient management and put that into practice so that the contracts will be measured against the specifications of therapies that doctors and other professionals recommend.”

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of the NHS who appointed Professor Greenough to his new part-time post, said: “Our national clinical directors will provide the expert insight, knowledge and research we need in order to understand and address the challenges we face in all different aspects of the NHS.”