Dr Gaurav Gupta

Dr Gupta came to the attention of many GPs and the media at this year’s LMCs Conference when he argued that seven-day working was ‘unsafe’ and called for the NHS to ‘stop doing what politicians want and do what patients need’.

But he is best-known among his peers as vice-chair of Kent LMC, where he ‘works really hard to try to change things’, according to one nomination. He tells Pulse his achievements this year include increasing LMC engagement among LMC representatives and local GPs, as well as redesigning services in the CCG area – for example anticoagulation monitoring and shared-care prescribing.

Dr Gupta also successfully bid for an X-ray machine and minor injuries unit at his own practice in Faversham. Developing new services for patients is what he enjoys, he says. ‘I feel strongly that GPs are the answer to the NHS’s problems and, if we are allowed to innovate, we can change the NHS for the better.’

What to watch for next year He hopes to expand services for his local community and ‘provide robust and effective representation for GPs to help practices in the current challenging environment’.