Affiliate members
You can find the full names, qualifications and biographies of our Council affiliate members here.
All our Council affiliate members were appointed following an independent appointments process.
The Council affiliates scheme is a pilot aimed at increasing the diversity of thought and lived experience around the Council table. Council affiliates have an interest in medical regulation and the work of the GMC in protecting the public, and have started a career as a non-executive director. They will contribute to discussions at our Council meetings, but without voting rights. They bring a different perspective as they are usually earlier on in their careers when compared to our Council members, and that will inform Council discussions.
The role is also a learning opportunity for our affiliates as they gain valuable board room experience at a national level and are mentored by one of our full Council members to improve their skills at the Board table.
This is the first time we’ve had Council affiliates, but the role is common in other similar organisations. We will pilot the affiliate scheme for 2 years and then evaluate its impact and decide whether to appoint further affiliates.
Our first two affiliates are Ella Jackson and Daniel Darbyshire and their first Council meeting was in June 2026.
Dr Daniel Darbyshire
Registrant affiliate
GMC Ref No: 7042738
Daniel is an emergency medicine and paediatric emergency medicine resident doctor, based in the north west of England, in the final stages of his clinical training. As an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer (ACL) with Lancaster University, Daniel splits his time fifty-fifty between clinical practice and research, with his primary research interest following a theme of sustainable working practices and staff retention.
Daniel initially worked with the Emergency Medicine Trainees' Association (EMTA) as a representative to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine's Sustainable Working Practices Committee, and later became EMTA Chair.
Daniel served as EMTA Chair from 2021 to 2022, during the COVID pandemic and a catastrophic RCEM exam failure.
He has also held roles with:
- BMA Junior Academic Trainees Subcommittee
- the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) Trainee Doctors Group
- Health Education England's Enhancing Junior Doctors' Working Lives group
He was the Northwest Regional Representative for Trainees in the Association for the Study of Medical Education (TASME), then became the awards lead. Daniel returned to ASME as Director from the Membership from 2023 to 2025.
Daniel is currently:
- an ACL Representative to the Integrated Academic-Clinical Training (InterACT Committee)
- a member of RCEM's Adolescent Mental Health National Quality Improvement Project
- a founding member of The Ethics and Ethnography Observatory
- a crowd doctor with Burnley F.C. and Manchester City F.C.
Ms Ella Jackson
Lay affiliate
Ella is a director at the British Society for Rheumatology where her portfolio spans a national audit programme, clinical guidelines, national patient registries, policy and publishing.
Ella’s experience is grounded in bridging policy and practice. She spent three years in the civil service working on the strategic policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons. Previously, she led NHS Providers’ regulation policy portfolio and supported NHS trust boards with leadership for quality improvement.
Ella has also held roles at the Royal College of Physicians, where she championed and supported the implementation of person-centred approaches to care, and at NHS England, leading the national patient activation programme.
Ella is also a trustee of Manchester Mind.
