44. Dr Peter Swinyard

Colleagues see veteran Family Doctor Association chair Dr Peter Swinyard as a ‘champion’ for small GP practices.

This year he helped save his own practice in Swindon, taking it ‘from a dreadful financial position to financial balance’, handing it onto a company and working two clinical days a week ‘actually being paid each month’.

And at the FDA it has been a year of ‘getting the message out to our members about the changes in the NHS’, says Dr Swinyard, while reassuring them they have a representative at the ‘top table’ in these turbulent times.

He thinks others would describe him as ‘a traditional but up-to-date family doctor relishing continuity of care’, although he jokes that the best moment of the year was being nominated to this list (Ed – thanks Peter…), the actual highlight was having a new hip fitted ‘so that I can now walk without pain’.

Why influential?

Continuing to fight for small practices

What others say

‘Great advocate for continuity of care’

Random fact

Played the tuba at the Royal Tournament in the 1970s