I set up NCPC in response to the local challenges of GP recruitment. I saw great local practices begin to really struggle and felt a need act to sustain services for the small towns and rural settings of North Cumbria. We care deeply about our local communities and our approach is strongly values based. Our not for profit model reinvests surpluses back into patient care and building our wider multidisciplinary, multi-speciality teams. I am convinced we will serve our communities best by making our organisation a great place to work.
Until recently I was deputy chief executive of both Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust, and am delighted to be able to bring my leadership experience back home to primary care. I am Professor of Primary Care at UCLAN and still practice as a GP in Whitehaven in West Cumbria. I was a runner up in the first national NHS Leadership Awards in 2010 and received a Fellowship in Public Health through distinction in 2011. In the early part of my career I worked in 13 conflict zones and was medical director of an international charity. In 2020 I received an MBE for services to primary care.
My hope for NCPC is that we make a difference to the outcomes of the most vulnerable in society and that our staff feel proud to be part of our social enterprise. In my free time I am still building the garden that I designed in my head whilst working during the Rwanda crisis and enjoy cycling and time with my family.
