True GP heroes of the year

1. Dr Hadrian Moss

Pulse blogger Dr Hadrian Moss was threatened with a breach-of-contract notice after taking steps to close his practice’s list informally, in line with GPC advice. However, after Dr Moss protested, his case was mentioned in Parliament and a minister promised to look into it, then NHS England told LMCs that practices with short-term staffing problems could ‘temporarily’ stop taking new patients on an informal basis. A true victory for the little man.

2. Dr Farah Jameel/Dr Amy Small

While BMA leaders struggled to find the words, it took two young GPs to provide an appropriate response to the health secretary’s ‘new deal’ for general practice. At the BMA’s Annual Representatives Meeting in June, Dr Amy Small and Dr Farah Jameel memorably told the meeting that the so-called new deal would create ‘exhausted, burnt-out, hamster-wheel doctors running a piecemeal, haphazard sort of service, putting patients at risk’. The motion was passed.

3. Dr Dominique Thompson

It is not easy to put the CQC on the back foot, but that is exactly what Dr Dominique Thompson did when she extracted an apology from the regulator earlier this year over errors in its inspection report. CQC officials had insisted on asking questions about elderly care, despite the practice being university based. After initially being told she did not have a case, Dr Thompson persevered and eventually forced inspectors to revisit her practice and amend the rating to ‘good’.

4. Dr Phil Peverley

The Sunderland GP’s writing has always connected strongly with readers of Pulse, but this year saw an outpouring of affection for our long-time columnist as he recounted the end of his ‘love affair’ with general practice. ‘I hate this bloody job,’ he said in June, in a poignant column that detailed how the relentless stress of being a GP had finally contributed to his ending up in hospital. The column brought 150 comments of support and was probably one of the most talked-about articles of his distinguished writing career. Get well soon, Pev, we miss you.

5. Dr Emon Farrah Malik

This GP deserves praise for giving health secretary Jeremy Hunt a red face on the BBC’s Question Time over his ‘new deal’. She pulled no punches as she took Mr Hunt to task, saying: ‘You are driving us all out of the country.’ Respect.