40. Dr Manpreet Pujara

 This Kent GP straddles two of the major IT roles in general practice: he is chair of RCGP’s health informatics group and he has recently taken on the role of clinical director for patient safety at NHS Digital.

As one GP colleague put it: ‘Dr Pujara is the quiet powerhouse that keeps patients and clinicians away from unsafe clinical IT, which is an enormous responsibility.’

The importance of such roles was brought to light earlier this year following the cyber attack on the NHS, which saw hackers prevent doctors from viewing patient records. But there is also more GPs can do, he says. ‘There is a lot of work that needs to be done as to how patient safety is considered whenever there is a digital encounter with the patient. We are all suffering from alert fatigue and important alerts that impact patient care are ignored by many of us everyday.’

There may be a path to the top for him, if previous incumbents of the clinical director for patient safety role are anything to go by; his predecessor was Professor Maureen Baker, chair of the RCGP.

Why influential

Digital GP innovator

What others say

‘If he does his job well, none of us need notice.’