Mr Rob Bethune MA(hons), MBBS(hons), MSc, FRCS is a Colo-Rectal Consultant Surgeon at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and a Clinical Advisor for the South West Patient Safety Collaborative. He studied medicine at Cambridge University and Imperial College London, receiving honours for surgical finals in 2001. He is primarily a laparoscopic bowel cancer surgeon as well as dealing with the surgical side of inflammatory bowel disease. He also manages hernias (laparoscopic and open), haemorrhoids and other peri-anal problems.

He has had a significant role in improving the delivery of health care services. After spending a year as a surgeon in a rural mission hospital in Zambia he took time out of his surgical training to work as a manager at the South West Strategic Health Authority. During this year he worked on a 17 hospital safety collaborative improving the standards of peri-operative care. He continues this role with the South West Academic Health Science Network as the clinical lead for the new safety collaborative.

He is also involved in developing the non-technical skills (human factors) of trainee surgeons as well as his colleagues; after publishing his master's thesis on pre-operative briefings and debriefings. He was on the UK Department of Health Human Factors steering group. He has published widely on patient safety, human factors and quality improvement.