Six GPs have been elected to the BMA council for 2016-2018, including an ex-chair of the RCGP and the current GPC chair.
Of the 18 newly-elected council members, the six successful GPs included ex-chair of the RCGP Professor Clare Gerada, GPC chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul, ex-GPC negotiator Dr Peter Holden, National Health Action Party candidate Dr Louise Irvine, RCGP and GP Survival spokesperson Dr Hamed Khan and Liverpool GP Dr Rob Barnett.
Dr Sundeep Grewal, who previously appeared on Question Time and is now a GP registrar was also elected. Other big names elected include Dr Johann Malawana, chair of the BMA Junior Doctors committee and leader of the BMA’s fight against the junior doctor contract imposition.
Over 20 GP candidates were up for election for the BMA council, the highest decision making body in the organisation.
Dr Khan – a member of Pulse’s ‘Next Generation Panel’ – told Pulse that he is ‘absolutely delighted and humbled by the huge support that I’ve had from GPs of all ages and stages in their career’.
‘This set of council elections has seen far greater engagement from GPs and other doctors because of the various crises that the NHS is going through both with respect to the junior doctors’ contract and with respect to various flawed policies that the government has either implemented or is trying to implement in general practice,’ he added.
His aim on the BMA council is to ‘put in absolutely every ounce of effort and energy that I can into reversing the current state of play… the Government is continually underfunding general practice – we only receive about 7% of the NHS budgetary pie, although we provide about 90% of its care.’
Professor Clare Gerada tweeted that after her election, she now wanted to ‘bring back time, space and fun into medicine’.
So glad & honoured to be elected onto @TheBMA council. Next step to bring back time, space & fun into medicine
— Clare Gerada (@clarercgp) April 15, 2016
The full list of members elected onto the BMA Council:
Dominic Aubrey-Jones – Medical Student, North West
Dr Philip James Banfield – Consultant, Wales
Dr Rob Barnett – GP, North Western
Dr Andrew Collier – Junior Doctor, North Western
Dr Peter Curry – Other, Scotland
Dr Thomas Dolphin – Consultant, London
Dr Helen Fidler – Consultant, London
Professor Clare Gerada – GP, London
Dr Sundeep Grewal – Junior Doctor, Eastern
Dr Peter Holden – GP, Derbyshire
Dr Louise Irvine – GP, London
Dr Hamed Khan – GP, London
Dr Johann Malawana – Junior Doctor, Eastern
Dr Chaand Nagpaul – GP, Eastern
Dr Kevin O’Kane – Consultant, London
Dr Clive Peedell – Consultant, North Eastern
Professor Wendy Savage – Retired gynaecologist, London
Dr Stephen J Watkins – Public Health Medicine, North Western
