The chief executive of Londonwide LMCs is the voice of 7,000 GPs and practice staff across the city.
But she is also fighting for practices across the country, sounding the alarm over online practice Babylon GP at Hand as it expands to other regions from its west London base.
When it transpired the provider’s patients in Birmingham would be registered as part of Babylon’s primary care network in London, Dr Drage warned this ‘encourages fragmentation of services’ and ‘rides roughshod over the ethos and detail of the NHS long-term plan, which highlights the value of place-based care’.
In London, and further afield, she been supporting new PCN clinical directors with guidance about how to develop the new local groupings of practices.
Following the review of PMS contracts, another achievement has been ‘securing a safe-landing in PMS and GMS practices for all of the £100m per year of GPs hard-earned monies that were at risk of disappearing down the financial black holes of secondary care in the capital’ according to Dr Drage.
Why influential: Represent GPs by making sure ‘bonkers ideas’ are safe
What others say: ‘A bit of a whirlwind, devoted to her work’
Random fact: Loves adrenaline sports and has a dangerous allergy to crustaceans
