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42. Dr Tom Black

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An affable Derry GP, Dr Tom Black replaced Dr Brian Dunn as chair of GPC Northern Ireland last year, and he immediately made a splash by calling on GPs in the province to take on more commissioning responsibility. He believes this should be achieved in a more phased and gradual way than in England, but is keen to see GPs lead a reconfiguration of services away from hospitals.

Dr Black's main task this year was ensuring the implementation of the Northern Ireland review of health and social care, and, according to his annual report to the GPC, he has been lobbying hard to ensure changes are ‘properly planned, agreed, managed and resourced'.

Dr Black's next challenge may be in contract talks, with Northern Ireland health minister Edwin Poots warning last month that he intends to look at negotiating a larger proportion of the UK-wide GMS contract locally.