[1][2] He attended Fraserburgh Academy before going on to study chemistry and medicine at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with BSc and MB ChB (with commendation) in 1978.
[5] Ritchie said that to inform the review he had talked to doctors, patients, ambulance staff and NHS 24 workers.
To mark the occasion he bought the Julia Park Barry, a lifeboat that had been used to save hundreds of people before being taken out of service in 1969.
[13] In 2017, he was named as chair of a group of independent advisers, charged with looking at NHS Tayside's financial difficulties and to report to Scottish Government within a three month period.
[14] In January 2018, he was named as the chair of a review of urgent care services in Skye, Lochalsh and Wester Ross.