Dr Clare Bannon elected as next BMA GP committee chair

Dr Clare Bannon has been elected as the new chair of the BMA’s GP committee England, the union has announced.

Dr Bannon, a former GPC deputy chair and a GP in Barnsley, will succeed current GPC chair Dr Katie Bramall and was elected unopposed.

She will take up office on 9 July at the GPC England meeting, while contested seats for deputy officers will be announced in due course.  

Current chair Dr Bramall announced earlier today that she would not stand in the elections for GPC England chair. She remains GPC UK chair until October.

Dr Bannon has held a variety of roles within the local CCG, ICBs and LMC. On GPC England she has served as deputy chair and both as policy lead for clinical and prescribing; and practice business since joining the committee in 2021.

She has led on national work for prescribing Covid therapeutics and recently led work exploring alternatives to GP-issued fit notes to reduce unnecessary workload. 

Dr Bannon said: ‘I am delighted to have been elected chair of GPC England. This is a demanding role at an incredibly challenging time for the profession, but I believe those challenges can be overcome. 

‘My focus will be on representing the interests of GPs, improving patient care, transforming general practice, and helping to bring together a fractured primary care system. The future of general practice is too important to leave to chance.

‘GPs are seeing more patients than ever, with increasingly complex needs, while our responsibilities continue to grow with little support. As chair, I will seek to unite the committee behind a strategy that improves the working lives of GPs across the profession, including for sessional colleagues on whom practices rely so heavily on. 

‘Every GP deserves to feel valued, supported and represented. That is the culture my leadership will foster, and those are the values I will demonstrate. I must emphasise that despite the change in leadership, I remain ready to ballot the profession and proceed with further action if another unacceptable contract is imposed. I want to take a collaborative approach but that should not be mistaken for weakness.  

‘I also want to thank Dr Katie Bramall for her generous contribution to the profession. She has given so much of her personal and professional time to furthering the interests of GPs, from negotiating with successive governments and leading GPs through two rounds of collective action, to securing the largest GMS investment since 2004. 

‘Katie’s impact will be felt for generations to come, and we thank her.’