Daren Mochrie, originally from Edinburgh has had a very successful and rewarding 36-year career in the National Health Service and Ambulance Service, from early days as a volunteer first aider and young paramedic working his way up to Chief Executive and Chief Ambulance Officer for North West Ambulance Service one of the largest integrated ambulance services and one of the busiest in the country.
Daren manages over 8,000 staff and volunteers, a budget of over half a billion, responding to around 4.5 million 999, NHS 111 urgent patients and non-emergency planned patients, across 7.5m population of the North West of England.
Alongside saving lives and improving health outcomes for thousands of people over the years Daren is a fantastic ambassador for the ambulance sector.
In recognition for his services to the ambulance sector and his leadership throughout COVID Daren was awarded the Queens ambulance medal for distinguished service in the 2013 Queens Birthday honours and in 2021 was awarded an honorary doctorate and made a Doctor of Health Care from the University of Bolton.
Daren was voted by his peers as Chair of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives in 2020 which is a membership organisation of all UK ambulance services, lobbying and advising the Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Health, government officials and members of the Royal family through the Emergency Senior Leaders Board. Daren regularly speaks at national and international conferences on the ambulance sector and was voted in the Health Service Journal top 50 NHS CEOs in 2023.
“I left school in 1988 at 16 years of age having not been particularly academic.
"Despite this I worked hard to gain entry onto the Trainee Operating Department Assistant City & Guilds course with Lothian Health Board and since joining the Scottish Ambulance Service studied and passed a range of clinical qualifications including becoming a registered paramedic and was one of the first paramedics to sit and pass the Diploma in Immediate Medical Care from the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh in 2001.
"Joining the Ambulance Service had always been a passion of mine having volunteered for a number of years as a first aider with the St Andrews First Aid organisation at various large events and saw first-hand the role they played in saving lives and improving outcomes for patients.
"It was around the mid 2000’s that I recognised that, although I had the clinical qualifications and experience as well as operational and management leadership experience, if I wanted to go further then I needed to push myself and undertake further academic qualifications such as a master’s degree. I had a demanding job at the time and a young family and so college seemed the best option for me to achieve my goal.
"This was the start of my leadership and management academic journey as I went on to gain a CMI Executive Diploma in Management from Fife College, known then as Lauder College in Dunfermline. This enabled me to progress on to study a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA). Gaining these qualifications was a turning point and reaffirmed to me that despite leaving school with no real formal academic qualifications, I was more than capable of being a successful clinician and a senior leader.
"I thoroughly enjoyed my time at college as I was studying with other students who came from different professions both private and public sector who brought different experiences to my learning. I was also proud to have been awarded the CMI student of the year award while at College - I still have the silver shield on display in my office at home. Who would have thought that I now have the pleasure of presenting CMI certificates to staff within the North West Ambulance Service who have gained the same qualification as me 20 years earlier.
"My advice for today’s students is to pursue your dreams. We all face challenges in our professional and personal life’s, fail an exam, not get a job at interview first time, have a family or personal crisis but what’s important is how you learn to react, how you deal with adversity or disappointment, how you develop personal resilience and most of all how you bounce back."
We are delighted to have Daren join our Fife College Hall of Fame in recognition of his successful career leading an organisation which saves lives and improves the outcomes of so many.
