Rory trained in Cambridge and London, qualifying in 1982. After that he started in paediatrics, working at St Georges, Great Ormond Street, The Brompton and King’s College Hospitals. In 1992 Rory moved to Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge where he has set up and run the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. The unit admits 500 children each year from across the East of England, caring for children with serious infections, with cancer, following head injuries and after major surgery.

Along with Penny Cook, Rory established a bereavement service for families of children who died on the unit and have published on the care of families in such situations. Latterly he has been involved in the pre-operative assessment of children with complex disability, helping to set priorities of care and address difficult issues such as surgery in children with DNR orders in place. He has recently authored a statement on behalf of the European Academy of Paediatrics on the ethics of withholding and withdrawing care in children.