Sir Duncan Kirkbride Nichol (born 30 May 1941) is a British hospital administrator who was the third Chief Executive of the National Health Service Management Executive from 1989 to 1994.[1]
He was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, to James Nichol and Mabel Kirkbride.[2] He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland.[1] He joined the NHS in 1963 as a graduate trainee, and worked his way up in St Thomas's Hospital and Manchester Royal Infirmary, from senior administrative assistant to regional general manager of the Mersey Regional Health Authority.[3] He has been Chairman of the Academy for Healthcare Science, Her Majesty’s Courts Service, Skills for Justice, the Parole Board for England and Wales and Synergy Healthcare. He is a director of Deltex Medical Group.[4]
He was a non-executive director of the Christie Hospital from 2008 and deputy chairman from 2009 until 2012, when he was appointed Chair of the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.[5] He announced his retirement in November 2019.[6]
He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1989 New Year Honours and knighted in the 1993 New Year Honours.[1]