Who's Who in Primary Care 2024 (The Summer update)

We have a new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care!

This blog is for you if;

🅰️. You are a Primary Care Network (PCN) leader and have heard your colleagues referring to certain high-profile individuals but may not be entirely sure of what they do or their role in the system.

OR

🅱️ You are an experienced leader and would like a quick refresher on who's who in health and primary care because things are always changing.

In this blog,

🎯 We provide a list of some of those holding the most senior positions in health and primary care right now, along with a brief biography of each.

🎯 You can hear some of these leaders on our Business of Healthcare podcast featured towards the end of this blog to gain even more insight into their portfolio and how their work directly affects you.

🎯 We have also included a video produced by the King's Fund, which describes how the NHS in England works and how it is changing to help you understand the national direction.

We have not included every NHS leader or influential voice in this space, but hopefully, this list serves as a helpful reference point.

This blog was updated on 23rd July 2024.

Let's jump in!

In this blog, we are profiling:

Wes Streeting

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Amanda Pritchard

NHS Chief Executive of NHS England

Dr Amanda Doyle OBE

GP and NHS National Director for Primary Care and Community Services

Professor Claire Fuller

GP and Medical Director for Primary Care NHS England

Dr Bola Owolabi

Director of Health Inequalities at NHS England and NHS Improvement

Dr Minal Bakhai MBE

National Director for Primary Care and Community Transformation and Improvement at NHS England

Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer

Chair of the British Medical Association (BMA)’s General Practitioners Committee for England

Matthew Taylor

Chief Executive, NHS Confederation

Ruth Rankine

Director of Primary Care, NHS Confederation

Let's find out more....

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Wes Streeting

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Wes Streeting was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 5th July 2024, replacing Victoria Atkins, who was appointed on 13th November 2023, replacing Steve Barclay, who was appointed on 25th October 2022.

This would make a good pub quiz question!

Wes Streeting is the Labour MP for Ilford North and Secretary of State for Health & Social Care.

Previously he served in Keir Starmer’s front bench team as a Shadow Minister for Schools and Child Poverty and as Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.

Wes was first elected to Parliament in 2015. The Secretary of State is responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care, including:

➡️ Overall financial control and oversight of NHS delivery and performance

➡️ Oversight of social care policy

Amanda Pritchard

NHS Chief Executive of NHS England

Amanda is the first woman in the health service’s history to hold the post.

As NHS Chief Executive, she is responsible for an annual budget of more than £130 billion while ensuring that everyone in the country receives high-quality care.

Dr Amanda Doyle OBE

GP and Medical Director for Primary Care NHS England

Dr Amanda Doyle OBE took up the post of National Director for Primary Care and Community Services on 13 June 2022.

Amanda has been a GP for more than 20 years, practising in a large practice in a deprived area of Blackpool, which, in addition to primary medical services, provides a range of urgent care services for patients across the Fylde Coast.

Professor Claire Fuller

GP and Medical Director for Primary Care NHS England

Professor Claire Fuller is a GP and Chief Executive of the Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care System (ICS) which came into effect formally on 1st July 2022. As of August 2023, she has been appointed to the post of Medical Director for Primary Care at NHS England.

Claire is the author 'Next steps for integrating primary care: the Fuller stocktake' which was published in May 2022.

Dr Bola Owolabi

Director of Health Inequalities at NHS England and NHS Improvement, and she works as a General Practitioner in the Midlands.

Bola has held various leadership roles at local, system and national levels.

One of which was the National Specialty Advisor for Older People and Integrated Person Centred-Care at NHS England and Improvement, where she led the Anticipatory Care Workstream of the National Ageing Well Programme.

Bola has also worked with teams across NHS England/Improvement and the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Covid 19 Pandemic response.

Dr Minal Bakhai MBE

National Director Primary Care Transformation

Minal is a practicing GP, working at an inner-city London practice for almost 10 years.

Minal has a unique portfolio with experience stretching across policy, national programme strategy, research and implementation.

Additionally, she is an expert advisor at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), appraising the effectiveness and safety of digital tools used in primary care to reduce preventable ill health and to empower patients.

Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer

Chair of the BMA’s England GP Committee (GPC England).

Dr Bramall-Stainer is a GP in Hoddesdon and very recently elected as Chair of the BMA’s England GP Committee (GPC England).

She has been Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire LMC and Chair of the UK Conference of LMCs since 2019.

Before this, she was a medical director for North West London at London-wide LMCs and a partner in a practice in Hertfordshire.

Matthew Taylor

Matthew is the Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation.

Matthew joined the NHS Confederation as the organisation launched a new strategy to coincide with the most important set of reforms to the NHS in a decade, which will see legislative changes that underpin moves to integrate care in the English NHS.

As the only membership body for the whole healthcare system, they bring together, support and speak for leaders and organisations across the sector, connecting different parts of the system to share learning and to respond to shared challenges. 

Ruth Rankine

Ruth is the Director of Primary Care at the NHS Confederation, leading the PCN Network and Primary Care Federation Network.

Before joining the NHS Confederation, Ruth was deputy chief inspector of general practice at the Care Quality Commission. 

During her time at CQC, Ruth led the regulation of general practice, set up the first regulatory programme for online providers and established an inspection programme for military health services. 

The Overall Aim

These leaders, amongst many others, are working together to achieve a new Integrated Care System where primary care has a strong and equal voice.

Check out the following video by the King's Fund, which presents the vision of what we should all be working towards as a collective.

How does the NHS in England work, and how is it changing?

I hope this helps!

⚠️ DISCLAIMER: We endeavour to keep our blogs up to date, and the information presented reflects our knowledge at the time of publication.

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Still keen to learn more? Check out Tara's interviews with Dr Nikki Kanani MBE, Dr Bola Owolabi, Dr Minal Bahkai MBE, Ruth Rankine on The Business of Healthcare podcast!

Leading Change

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Find out more about THC Primary Care at: https://www.thcprimarycare.co.uk

And follow Tara on Twitter: @THCPrimarycare

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About the Author

I'm Tara; I am the founder of THC Primary Care, an award-winning healthcare consultancy specialising in Primary Care Network Management and the host of the Business of Healthcare Podcast, where we have now published over 300 episodes.

I have over 20 years of project management and business development experience across the private and public sectors, and I have supported over 120 PCNs by providing interim management, training and consultancy.

I have managed teams across multiple sites and countries; I have an MBA in Leadership and Management in Healthcare, I'm published in the London Journal of Primary Care, and I am the author of over 250 blogs.

I have 3 children. My eldest has Asthma, my middle child has a kidney condition called Nephrotic Syndrome, and my youngest daughter has Type 1 Diabetes, so outside of work, healthcare plays a huge role in my life.