Dr Terry Kemple has been announced as the next president of the RCGP today following a national ballot
He fought off competition from Professor Mayur Lakhani, the former chair of the college, who finished second, and Dr Michael Dixon, chair of the NHS Alliance, who finished fourth, to take the two-year role.
Dr Colin Hunter, the former chair of the QOF advisory board, who this week said NICE had ‘lost the plot’ on its drive for GPs to prescribe statins at the 10% threshold, came in third place.
Dr Kemple is a practising GP in Bristol, a GP educationalist and an appraiser, and has been a member of the RCGP council since 2013.
Writing on the Pulse website, he said that the college had become ‘complacent’.
He added: ‘The RCGP used to be a visionary college for its members that mapped out the exciting future for general practice. It’s become more like a complacent corporation that mostly provides membership services and as such has reacted too little and too late to the many causes of the current crisis.’
Dr Kemple said that general practice had reached a ‘tipping point’ .
He added: ‘Sensible options for the duration of the crisis are that the college prioritises the following: reducing our workload by stating what we can safely stop doing; ensuring that the medical schools and NHS start to produce enough GPs for the future; finding the best ways to provide essential general practice efficiently and effectively and spread that best practice faster.’
RCGP chief executive Neil Hunt said: ‘We congratulate Dr Kemple on his election win and look forward to working with him as part of the college’s officer team. I am confident that the College will benefit greatly from his vast experience of general practice and providing excellent care to patients.’
NB This story was updated at 10:50 on 4/6/2015 to reflect the fact that Dr Colin Hunter came third and Dr Michael Dixon came fourth, and that it is now a two-year term.
