Dr Jon Van Niekerk

Jon was elected as Chair of the General Adult Faculty in 2023 after serving as an elected member of the faculty executive since 2019. He is the Group Medical Director, Chief Clinical Information Officer and Caldicott Guardian for Cygnet Health Care.

Jon has worked as a medical manager in the NHS and independent sector in different clinical and medical director roles over the last 10 years. He was part of the first cohort of Medical Leadership Trainees in the North West Deanery and completed the NHS Graduate Management scheme alongside his higher specialist training.

Jon has been involved with various different positions within the Royal College of Psychiatrists throughout his career, including past national chair of the Psychiatric Trainees Committee, elected member for the North West division and is the co-chair and founding member of the RCPsych Co-Production steering group that aim to share and produce best practice guidance for mental health organisations. Jon is a founding member of the Manchester Psychiatry Society.

He completed accredited media training in 2019 and has since been a regular spokesperson for the College, with television and radio appearances and contributed to newspaper, online and print journalism. Jon’s main interests include digital transformation, co-production in mental health, system leadership, large-scale change management and service improvement within healthcare settings.