A GP principal of a practice in east London has won Pulse’s GP of the Year award for managing her inner-city practice on her own following the death of the senior partner.
Dr Farzana Hussain, who works at the Project Surgery in Newham, was presented with the prize at tonight’s General Practice Awards in London.
She was praised for her efforts in quality improvement, streamlining appointment processes and her work with pharmacists to free up GP time.
Dr Hussain’s colleague at Project Surgery, Dr Iram Ali, nominated her and said she is an ‘inspiration and excellent role model’ for everyone around her.
The judges noted Dr Hussain’s dedication to her 4,500 patients, staff and local community. They highlighted that she is one of the only GPs in Newham to share GP records with a community pharmacist, enabling safe joint working in the borough’s latent tuberculosis service.
Dr Hussain said: ‘I am so chuffed. It’s just such a morale boost. I know we work for our patients, but something like this is just such a lovely external appreciation. I feel quite emotional actually. I just feel on top of the world and that response in there was just absolutely beautiful.’
The awards night also saw Dr Emma Ladds named the GP Trainee/Rising Star of the year (sponsored by Healius) for her academic work and initiative at her surgery, Summertown Group Practice in Oxford for leading a frailty-focused project to improve communication between primary and secondary staff, which involves recoding potentially frail patients.
Academic and clinical colleagues praised Dr Ladds for her ‘invaluable’ work in all aspects of primary care, both as part of the Next Generation GP cohort – a programme for early-career GPs looking to future leadership roles – and her teaching role at the University of Oxford.
Dr Ladds said: ‘I had no idea I was going to win. I am totally over the moon about it but completely overwhelmed. There are so many amazing GP trainees who do such incredible things and I just thought I had no chance, but I’m so proud that the projects I have have been recognised.’
The award for GP Team of the Year went to the Darwen Healthcare Team and the Practice Manager of the Year Award (sponsored by PSUK) was won by Sarah Herdman from Chiswick Health Practice in West London.
Awards were also given to primary care networks, sponsored by NHS England, for their efforts in collaborative and community work since going live in July.
The PCN of the Year award went to Lancashire-based Healthier Fleetwood Neighbourhood (Fleetwood Primary Care Network) and Best PCN Newcomer of the Year was awarded to NeoHealth Primary Care Network in North Kensington, London.
Other clinical awards went to:
- Clinical improvement award for chronic conditions (sponsored by Vision) – Primary Care Wellbeing Service
- Clinical improvement award for mental health – NHS Practitioner Health (GP Health)
- Clinical improvement award for public health and prevention – Scale Up BP Team
See the full list of General Practice Award winners here.
