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7. Dr Zoe Norris

07 norris zoe power50 2017 7

07 norris zoe power50 2017 7

Locum and salaried GPs now have a champion to be reckoned with. After being elected as GPC lead for sessional GPs, Dr Norris has worked tirelessly to represent them, in testing circumstances.

After NHS England concluded locuming was ‘unfair to permanent colleagues’ the Hull GP chased chief executive Simon Stevens into a lift and told him to his face he was wrong.

Her team has worked through such issues as the changes to IR35 and disruption to pensions payments, gaining tangible results for sessionals.

The Hull GP also carried out a major survey of 2,000 sessionals that showed 70% will leave if conditions get worse , announcing the results with a flourish at the LMCs Conference. As one of her nominators put it, the speech ‘showed she was leadership material and beginning to push to the very front of medical politics’.

So what’s next for this rising star? The biggest area, she says, is the evidence to be submitted to the DDRB about the salaried and locum workforce in primary care to counter the ‘negative connotations’ from government. ‘This is highlighting again that you cannot force GPs to work in one particular way.’

And she continues to write a regular column for Pulse, as one nominator put it ‘bravely saying what nobody else is prepared to’. Long may it continue.

Why influential

A charismatic rising star in the GPC

What others say

‘She is prepared to put her head above the parapet’

Random fact

She originally wanted to be a vet, but decided sick animals would be too upsetting