B.A. — Mathematics & Philosophy, Somerville College, Oxford
M.D. — University of California, Los Angeles
MRCEM — Royal College of Emergency Medicine
FRCEM — Fellow, Royal College of Emergency Medicine
M.A. — Health Humanities, University College London
Dr Rosalind O'Shaughnessy is an emergency medicine physician with over twenty-five years' experience. Throughout her career she has combined clinical practice with a passion for the humanities, exploring medicine on screen, literature, and practical ethics. She has completed a Master's degree in Health Humanities and is pursuing further research in the philosophy of ethics and aesthetics. A distinguished speaker, she has also advised on numerous media projects, including over 70 episodes of the BBC's Casualty and Downton Abbey.
Rosalind speaks on medical ethics and the movies, myths and mesmerising in health, xenophobia, migration and health, honouring stories of illness, as well as on the current NHS crisis in the emergency services. Each session can be delivered as a conference keynote, a seminar, or a half-day workshop, and none is fixed.
Keynote 45–60 min · Workshop 3 hr · Clip-based
What screen drama gets right and wrong about medicine, and why the gap matters clinically. Drawn from a decade inside the writers' room at Casualty: how storylines get built, where medical accuracy is traded for narrative truth, and what that trade teaches us about patients who arrive already knowing what illness is supposed to look like.
Keynote 45 min · Workshop half-day · Writing exercises
Narrative medicine as a working practice rather than a philosophy. What changes in a clinician's attention when they write, and what it does for the person whose story is being told. Includes the design and results of the Emergency Department creative writing group Rosalind established at Chelsea & Westminster.
Keynote 45 min · Seminar 90 min
Practical ethics for decisions made at speed. Drawing on Iris Murdoch's moral philosophy and the argument that attention is itself an ethical act, this session asks what moral seriousness looks like when there is no time to deliberate — and why the ethics taught in medical school so rarely survives a Friday night in resus.
Keynote 45 min · Seminar 90 min
The persistent stories medicine tells about the mind, where they came from, and how they still shape the reception of patients in acute settings. Covers mesmerism and its descendants, the language of hysteria, and the myths that continue to attach to mental health presentations in the emergency department.
Keynote 30–45 min · Panel
The state of NHS emergency care from inside it, and the moral cost of practising well in a system that makes it difficult. Covers corridor care, moral injury, and what actually retains staff — delivered without either institutional optimism or despair.
Three lengths, so a programme editor can take what fits.
Short — 42 words
Dr Rosalind O'Shaughnessy is an A&E Consultant at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and a Fellow of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. She holds a Master's in Health Humanities and advised the BBC's Casualty for ten years.
Programme — 96 words
Dr Rosalind O'Shaughnessy is an Accident and Emergency Consultant at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and a Fellow of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, with over twenty-five years in emergency care. She holds a Master's degree in Health Humanities from UCL and is pursuing further research in philosophy, with a particular interest in Iris Murdoch's ethics. She leads her department's Clinical Governance educational meetings and established its creative writing group. Alongside her clinical career she spent ten years as medical advisor to the BBC's Casualty, and has advised on Downton Abbey, Holby City and Criminal Justice.
Full
Dr Rosalind O'Shaughnessy is a Fellow of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and an A&E Consultant at a central London teaching hospital. With over twenty-five years' experience in emergency medicine, she combines clinical practice with a longstanding engagement in the humanities, ethics, and narrative medicine.
She holds a Master's degree in Health Humanities and is pursuing further research in philosophy, with a particular interest in Iris Murdoch's ethics. Her work explores medicine through literature, film, and storytelling, and she has spoken widely on medical ethics, illness narratives, and the challenges facing emergency care in the NHS.
Alongside her clinical career, Rosalind worked for ten years on the BBC drama Casualty and has been a medical advisor across film, television, radio, and books, including Downton Abbey. She leads the Chelsea & Westminster Emergency Department Creative Writing Group, where over 90% of participants report wellbeing benefits, and she is passionate about expanding creative and narrative practices in healthcare.
| Formats | Keynote (30–60 min), seminar (90 min), half-day workshop, panel contribution, study-day chairing |
| Audience size | No limit for keynotes; workshops work best at 12–30 for the writing exercises |
| Travel | London-based. UK-wide by arrangement; international considered. CONFIRM |
| Fee | SET ME — a figure or 'on request'. Note any reduced rate for NHS trusts and royal colleges. |
| Lead time | SET ME — typically weeks rather than months, subject to clinical rota |
| Requirements | Projector with sound for clip-based sessions; flip chart or paper for writing workshops |
| CPD | Learning outcomes supplied per session; happy to map to a programme's own framework |
Roles held, not endorsements.