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17. Dr Nav Chana

Primary care networks may be the new game in town, but they have been existing in another guise since 2015, thanks to Dr Nav Chana.

Dr Chana has been central to developing the National Primary Care Home Programme, which sees a range of practices and local health services organised around groups of up to 50,000 patients.

As former chair of the National Association of Primary Care, which runs the programme, he saw the model take off locally and now as the programme’s national clinical director he continues to ensure its success. 

The model was officially launched by NHS England in 2015 and has been adopted by 242 sites, which amounts to 20% of England’s population.

The Surrey GP said the model has influenced national policy for new primary care networks, which also encourages practices to work together at scale – for between 30,000 and 50,000 patients.

Dr Chana’s work has not gone unnoticed – this year he was awarded an MBE for services to clinical education and primary and community care.

But he says his achievements are at the expense of his ‘remarkably tolerant’ family from his frequent absences, in addition to his ‘long-suffering’ springer spaniel.

Why influential: Model for primary care paved the way for networks

What he says: ‘My daughter, aged 21, has recently said I was quite “cool” for a middle-aged bloke, which I have taken as high praise indeed’

Random fact: Currently taking cooking lessons