NAPC Council

Johnny is highly experienced in supporting change within the NHS, particularly through enabling local professional teams to develop their own solutions. He retired from clinical general practice in 2021 but remains passionate about incorporating a population health improvement approach to create sustainable support for individuals and communities.

During his career, Johnny has built a reputation as a trusted leader and advisor, providing valued vision and insight on health & care policy on behalf of NHS membership organisations. He has established effective partnerships at board level between NHS membership organisations and key partners including national NHS bodies, local government and professional representative groups.

Johnny is currently a member of NAPC’s senior leadership team and NAPC Clinical Lead to the CARE programme. His previous roles include NAPC Chair and Director of Policy at NHS Confederation.

Caroline was appointed as Chair of NAPC in September 2021.  She is a GP practicing in Calderdale and the Calderdale GP clinical lead for mental health/LD/Autism and children/young people. Caroline believes firmly in the neighbourhood care model, described originally by NAPC. She is passionate about the need to improve wellbeing of those working in health and care. She is working on the innovative Calderdale Community Mental Health Transformation and, through NAPC, with other projects nationally which are also founded on the Community Health and Wellbeing Worker model.

John has nearly 40 years’ experience in healthcare – his roles have included Finance Director and a decade as an acute trust CEO. He has worked at national level for the Department of Health reviewing whole health communities and undertook the role of Chief Operating Officer for the London Deanery during a period of major change in doctor and dentist training. John joined the NAPC in 2015 supporting the development of the primary care home programme and has been Chief Executive Officer since 2016. He is inspired by local frontline energy and a desire to improve local health and care services.

Dr Minesh Patel has been a GP for over 25 years. He is a GP Partner at Moatfield Surgery in East Grinstead. He took on the Mid-Sussex Primary Care Trust (PCT) lead role to adopt gold standards frameworks for coronary heart disease (CHD) and then diabetes. Minesh has been a clinical voice in commissioning and for five years was the Chair of Horsham and Mid-Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group. He led a review of Stroke Services in Sussex and chairs the Sussex Sustainability Transformation Partnership (STP) Clinical Board and has also led the development of the Healthy East Grinstead Partnership Primary Care Home.

Andy is a GP, a senior visiting fellow at The King’s Fund, a trustee of Phyllis Tuckwell hospice,
holds non-executive board member roles at Ashford & St Peter’s Hospital, and Kent
Community Healthcare, and is a qualified executive coach.
Before joining The King’s Fund, Andy worked as a senior policy adviser in the system
transformation team at NHS England developing Integrated Care Systems. He has spent
more than 25 years working in health care, with 10 years’ experience as a chief executive.
Andy has achieved ‘outstanding’ ratings in a number of organisations. He has overseen the
development of innovative solutions for care, and financial and governance arrangements
between health care services, local government, public health, social care and the voluntary
sector. As a system leader he oversaw the early development of primary care networks, and
integrated care as a peer reviewer for the local government association. Andy has published
work on community health policy, primary care, leadership and workforce.
Andy has postgraduate qualifications in child health, surgery, and general practice. He is a
fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners, a senior fellow of the Faculty of Medical
Leadership and Management and was previously a GP trainer. He has a Masters in Health
Leadership from McGill University

Dr Nav Chana served as NAPC Chair for four years and has been integral to the development and roll out of more than 200 primary care home (PCH) sites across England. Nav has been a GP at the Cricket Green Medical Practice in South West London for over 26 years. Previously he was Clinical Adviser for Workforce Redesign for the new care models programme, Director of Education Quality for Health Education South London and Postgraduate Dean for General Practice and Community-Based Education. Nav featured in Pulse’s Power 50 list of the most influential GPs in 2018.

Dr Durai Raj Jawahar is a long serving member of the NAPC, now awarded life membership, served as GP for more than 35 years years now retired. He was an Executive Partner of Manor Park Medical Practice in Leicester, serving 15,800 patients. He was the chair/ CD of the Millennium Federation / Millennium PCN (of Nine Leicester practices which form part of the primary care home programme’s community of practice.) Dr Jawahar is passionate about implementing innovative care models and was instrumental in securing funding for four highly successful walk-in health hubs, enabling Leicester patients to access appointments during the evenings, at weekends and on bank holidays. Set hub hot hubs in Leicester west. Thus minimised the spread of Covid-19. Stimulated practices to adapt care based on Population health. Very passionate with fully integrated services adapting AI enhanced outcome-based health care provisions.

Sally joined the NAPC in 2001 from a multinational IT organisation, looking for a complete change in industry. Her background is administration management and support. Sally’s role as Chief Operating Officer is to ensure the day-to-day running of the organisation supporting and working closely with the Chief Executive Officer, Chair and President. She finds it hugely rewarding to work at the heart of an innovative organisation which is shaping the future of healthcare, influencing policy and connecting professionals across primary care.

Dr Peter Aitken, MB ChB MRCGP FRCPSYCH DCH DRCOG FHEA worked briefly as a GP in South West London before pursuing a career in Psychiatry. He is Chief Medical Officer for Sussex Partnership NHS Trust. Previously served as the Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, as Medical Director at Devon Partnership NHS Trust and Honorary Associate Professor University of Exeter Medical School. He is a trustee at the Lions Barber Collective, chair of the Medical Committee at the RNLl, council member to the National Association of Primary Care and member of the steering group for Zero Suicide Alliance. He is a past chair of the Faculty of Liaison Psychiatry at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Psychiatrist of the Year in 2016.

David originated the primary care home concept, having spent 36 years spent as a GP at Castlefields Health Centre in Runcorn, and over nine as National Clinical Director for Primary Care at the Department of Health. He was also Medical Adviser to the Department of Health’s Commissioning and System Management Directorate. David was an Honorary Visiting Professor at Manchester and Durham University, as well as currently holding the positions of Chair of Primary Care Commissioning Community Interest Company (PCC) and Chair of PharmaScan for DH. He was awarded the OBE in 1997.

Joe Harrison joined Milton Keynes University Hospital in 2013, turning around the hospital’s quality, performance and finances and overseeing the extensive expansion and development of the hospital estate. Under his leadership MKUH has gained teaching hospital status and pioneered digital advances that have transformed patient care and experience. Alongside this, Joe has delivered wide-ranging initiatives to improve the working lives of the thousands of people who work at MKUH.

Joe was appointed as the National Director for Digital Channels in January 2023, overseeing the development of the NHS App. During his time in this role, the NHS App has seen a resurgence – one in five of the population aged 13 and over now log in monthly – with the ambition that a third of all interactions with the NHS will be delivered digitally within five years.

Joe was awarded a CBE for services to healthcare in the 2025 New Year Honours.

Larry is a Physiotherapist specialising in Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions and has worked as an Advanced Practice Physiotherapist and clinical lead. He has a range of leadership and improvement skills and experience. He recently completed a Darzi Fellowship. He is currently working as Head of FCP Implementation at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Larry is passionate about population health and the role of the multi-disciplinary team in primary care.

Joe qualified in Birmingham in 1990 and has wide medical experience including time as a flying doctor in Australia. He is Senior partner at Greystone House Medical Practice in Redhill, Surrey, and has a special interest in Minor Surgery and Vasectomy. He is an experienced Trainer of GP’s and medical students and an LMC member for Surrey. As an advocate of an integrated approach to healthcare, Joe brought together the eighteen East Surrey practices to form ESyDoc LLP for practice-based commissioning. Joe is a Council member of the National Association of Primary Care (NAPC) and a founding member of the National Primary Care Network (NPCN). Joe is former Chairman of East Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group. He is Governing Board Member at Surrey Heartlands CCG. He is motivated by a strong desire to improve the care of local residents and to realise his long-held vision for high quality patient services which deliver the right health care, at the right time, by the right healthcare professional and in the right environment. In the process, Joe aspires to bring back pride in the medical profession and the NHS.

Pooja has had an accomplished 15-year portfolio career in healthcare. She is a practising General Practitioner in London and has previously taken roles in general practice turnaround, NHS commissioning and as a clinical advisor, alongside setting up a patient-facing healthcare business which was acquired 6 years later. Over the last five years Pooja has worked as a management consultant in EY’s healthcare practice, working with a breadth of clients across the NHS system, from hospitals and GP surgeries to national bodies and regulators. She developed some of the national guidance on delivering population health systems, being rolled out across the NHS today, whilst on secondment to NHS England. Looking for a more entrepreneurial experience, Pooja helped set up the EY Ventures practice. She looked after a portfolio of health and social care ventures and developed corporate alliances. Through this she helped to coach founding teams, support disruptive business models and herself worked in a joint venture start up launching a workforce matching App in secondary care for nurses and doctors, taking on an array of scale-up activities. Pooja is also a Director of a family business launching primary care and wider health services in India. She advises on clinical and digital services strategy. A decade ago, Pooja fostered her interest in health tech, knowing that over time it would become the bedrock of how patients all over the world would access and experience care. She has an MBA from Imperial Business School London specialising in digital health, gaining a research interest in the adoption challenges of health technologies in the UK. She is known for her energy, optimism, and self-starting nature and throughout her career has struck the balance between clinical expertise, commercial acumen, and business creativity. Pooja leads NAPC’s Digital Programme.

Dr Peter Smith’s background is in general practice having been a GP for over 30 years in Kingston upon Thames until retiring from full time practice in 2019. He is President of the Self Care Forum and in this position jointly founded the Self Care Academic Research Unit at Imperial College where he is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow. He has had a career long interest in evidence-based medicine and continues to work in the field of health inequalities, Dr Smith was NAPC Chair from April 2000 to September 2004 and was appointed president in September 2005. He received an OBE for services to medicine in 2004.

Prior to joining NAPC Matthew worked for 13 years as a management consultant focused on workforce strategy and planning, primary care estates strategy and investment, and the development of new models of integrated care and quality improvement. During this time he led a multi-year STP wide programme of work supporting investment into primary and community care estates and was deputy director of primary care transformation for one of the most populated STPs in England. Matthew has been involved in the NAPC’s primary care home programme since 2015 supporting its set up, spread and evaluation. He now leads NAPC ‘s strategy and business development operations, and oversees the work of NAPC Digital which supports practical digital innovation in primary and integrated care.

Joanne Haws is a registered nurse who held a variety of roles within the UK NHS before setting up in business as an independent consultant in 2010. Joanne is the Clinical Director of Learn With Nurses, a Community Interest Company providing online clinical education that is accessible to healthcare professionals globally. She is a member of the Nurses and Allied Health Professionals Working Party of The British and Irish Hypertension Society and has authored many publications in the nursing and cardiology press both in the UK and internationally. Joanne is a Non-Executive Director of the National Association of Primary Care and is a Senior Clinical Consultant on the National Clinically led Workforce and Activity Redesign (CLEAR) Programme, sponsored by NHSEI. To keep up her acute skills Joanne still regularly works shifts in Critical Care, where she returned to frontline practice during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sarah is the co-organiser and chair of the City Practice Managers meetings and is passionate about the Practice Managers role and primary care as a whole. Sarah has over 22 years’ experience in Primary care, with 17 of those as a Practice and Business Manager. She has led her practice and team through many ups and downs including an inadequate CQC inspection which was turned around to a ‘Good’ in just 6 months. Sarah’s practice has just been accredited as Gold Investors in people. She has sat on previous groups within her local area and attended all meetings when necessary. Sarah is a regional representative for the new Practice Manager body – IGPM – Institute of General Practice managers. She is also an elected board member for Bradford Care Alliance. In conjunction with her practice and her knowledge of commissioning, Sarah has knowledge of service development, CQC, Contracting, AQP’s, Business Development, Strategic Management, and local demographic demands. Sarah keeps herself updated with numerous journals and reading is her priority to ensure she is fully aware of upcoming changes and transitions. She has recently graduated from Bradford University with a MSc in Health and Social Care Management.

Nia has always said that Primary Care is in her blood! The Daughter of a Practice Nurse, Nia has over 25 years nursing experience, twelve of which have been at Advanced Practice Level. Holding a postgraduate Specialist Practitioner Award in General Practice together with a full Advanced Clinical Practice Masters, Nia was thrilled to receive the Queens Nursing Title last year.

Nia is passionate about the provision of high quality, safe and effective nursing care and in 2021 was fortunate enough to win the RCN Wales Nurse of Year Award for her work in developing a Multi-Professional Advanced Practice Competency Framework for Primary Care, which HEIW now plan to roll out nationally. Her current PhD studies are based on the further development and measurement of this. Nia secured the first Welsh Primary Care Consultant Nurse position in 2018 where she represents the Health Board on the Strategic Programme for Primary Care, the National Advisory Group for Advanced Clinical Practice and is Chair of the National ACP Ratification subgroup. She sits as a council member on the National Association of Primary Care and holds an honorary senior lectureship with Bangor University.

Jas is experienced in General Nursing, Health Sector Management in the NHS and Private Healthcare Sector and Academia. Jas’ role as a Business Manager/Partner in General practice since 2005 is all about the ways of improving and delivering high standards of patient care in primary care. Jas recently completed a coaching and mentoring programme which has been helpful in supporting other managers and colleagues. Since 2001, Jas lectures in Leadership and management for Healthcare Professionals, with the main areas being based on the clinical leadership framework. Jas is a part of the Practice Managers Network for Black Country & West Birmingham. With challenging times and changes in healthcare, Jas has established good working relationships with other professionals, organisations, stakeholders. Jas really enjoys being involved and listening to what needs to happen, and how everyone can work together to make a positive change in primary care.

Ed joined Medefer in 2016 bringing his passion for innovation to the team. Ed qualified as a GP in 2002. With experience in leadership roles in the NHS and as a Member of a Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) governing body, Ed developed an interest in the potential for innovation in IT to drive both strategy and healthcare delivery. He represented the CCG as its Clinical Quality Lead for the Royal Free Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and developed an interest in IT service development and strategy, becoming the CCG’s Clinical IT Lead. At Medefer, Ed continues to develop innovative virtual healthcare strategies. He engages with CCGs and primary care to identify opportunities to support and extend the reach of Medefer’s unique virtual solutions within the NHS. Ed joined the NAPC Faculty in early 2021 to support the Digital Programme.

Tayo is a GP partner in Milton Keynes, GP lead and clinical director for The Bridge Primary Care Network (PCN), which incorporates Newport Pagnell Medical Centre, Kingfisher Surgery and Brooklands Health Centre. He is a Primary Medical Services board member of the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB. He also sits on the Milton Keynes Place board as a PCN representative.

Anna Shears has a wealth of health and social care policy experience gained from her 17 years’ working in a variety of senior roles at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Since 2018 Anna has worked independently of Government with high profile clients such as McKinsey and Co to support the transformation of primary and community care across Wiltshire, as a senior project manager for the Patients Association, as well as being a member of the National Association of Primary Care Faculty, leading work on the implementation of digital technology across North West London​ and more recently supporting the delivery of the national ICS PHM and Place Development Programme. Anna has a proven track record of evidence-based policy development, analysis and delivery in fast paced, high profile environments within DHSC; including white papers, Ministerial briefing and Parliamentary business, Prime Ministers’ Challenges and NHS CE strategic reviews. She has policy experience of leading work in the fields of dementia, innovation, health and social care regulation, competition and healthcare reconfiguration. A specialist in communications, engagement and stakeholder management, Anna has worked directly many influential and eminent figures in health and social care including Lord Darzi on the ‘NHS Next Stage Review’ which culminated in the publication of ‘High Quality Care for All’.

With over 25 years working in primary care, Moira has a wealth of experience, knowledge, and common sense on prim
ary care strategy and healthcare policy. An asset at strategic board level, combining critical and strategic thinking with grassroots delivery and credibility. Moira has primary care running through her like a stick of Blackpool rock. Working with GPs and practice managers and system leaders, as CEO of the Family Doctor Association, as Practice Management Network board member, regular Judge at the General Practice Awards, and Vice-Chair of the National Association for Patient Participation. As a Healthcare UX Leader, Moira is now focussing on patient influence and involvement in the integration agenda. Roles include lay panel member at Royal College-led Trust reviews, General Osteopathic Council patient adviser, NHS England & Improvement PPG adviser, Healthwatch Rochdale and member of her GP Patient Participation Group.

Zulf Ali is an experienced leader with a passion for business transformation with an emphasis on enabling technology within the public and private sector. Having worked with some of the world’s largest companies, tech start-ups with high growth potential, Zulf has gained valuable insight into the ingredients for delivering tangible results by inspiring people to achieve collective goals. Experienced in strategy development, business planning, team development, business transformation/turnaround, and mergers & acquisitions. Gained through various leadership roles as Chairman, CEO, MD, Chief Strategy Officer, Director for Strategic Partnerships, Senior Consultant, strategic advisor, and Programme Manager.

Born German but adopted by an English father, Dr Maiden-Tilsen always had a special relationship with England. As a medical student he had the opportunity to work in England and discovered a much more down to earth and inclusive learning environment in the hospital departments. This inspired him, after completion of his medical studies, to come and work in England. He came across General Practice and the highly developed skills and functions provided by primary care in England led him to do the training as a GP which he completed in 2003. Dr Maiden-Tilsen had met a Thanetian girl who helped him to appreciate Thanet’s beauty in many different ways and he has been working in Thanet since 2004. He always has been very passionate about integrated and holistic care provision and is humbled and grateful to be part of the TH CIC which gives him the opportunity to work with a plethora of health professionals, services and stakeholders to develop a truly holistic, excellent and integrated workforce for Thanet – in Thanet. Working as a CEO for this company since 2017 enabled him to appreciate a wider strategic view and more tactical skillset within the fast changing and challenged NHS environment and strengthened his determination to work towards a truly integrated collaborative approach across sectors. Having been instrumental in developing Thanet’s Primary Care Homes with the help of the NAPC, bringing pharmacists into the practices, providing several clinical services across Thanets three PCNs he is delighted to be able to strengthen his relationship with the NAPC and support its work as a member of its council. Dr MMT is also interested in Music (avid singer as a soloist (Baritone) and in a choir), plays the flute and likes to be thrown and throw people about with Aikido.

After a career in both retail and facilities management, Sarah has been working in Primary Care for 19 years, all of them at Westongrove Partnership. Sarah says this may seem like a long time with one organisation, yet every year has offered her the
opportunity to develop personally, take on new challenges and be part of an ever-changing environment which keeps her on her toes – day in day out. She is passionate about everything Westongrove stands for – the team, their wellbeing, their patient experience and developing and delivering services and patient care to the highest level, but it’s not easy. Primary Care is under huge pressure to deliver in increasingly demanding times, and Sarah believes that it is easy to become absorbed in what is happening within our own organisations but having been a member of NAPC for several years she further appreciates the value in working together, grasping innovation, sharing ideas, and supporting one another to ensure the robust future of healthcare. Sarah would like to join the council and be part of how NAPC influence and shape healthcare moving forward for those who work in it and for patient populations. Sarah recently received a distinction in a Post Graduate Certificate in Business Administration with the Open University and is a Mental Health First Aider and a QSIR practitioner. Sarah plans on embarking on a coaching qualification in the autumn. In her free time, you will find Sarah pottering in her garden, walking her small dog or settling down with a good book – possibly with a glass of wine!

Faye, a Queens nurse with over 30 years NHS experience in several health settings including the Acute, Community, Voluntary, Charity, Commissioning Services and Primary Care.

As a commissioner, Faye played a critical role in establishing and embedding integrated, team-based working across healthcare, social care, the voluntary and charitable sectors in her local area and region; as a result, the approach used has been replicated across the wider health and social care economy. She is particularly proud of the work she initiated to support the care home sector during Covid which was recognised nationally.

Faye has developed and project managed a variety of services including End of Life Care, Frailty and Care home initiatives. She is experienced particularly in developing and maintaining professional relationships with key stakeholders at all levels and building multi-agency networks.

Faye is currently a member of the NAPC faculty and supports the CARE, estate and care navigation programmes. She is motivated by a desire to positively influence changes in the NHS, and a belief that the only option to get good outcomes for patients is to become engaged with local services to understand how they are delivered. When not at work Faye enjoys spending time with her family, being outdoors and baking!

Dr Anup Shah BMBS, MRCOphth, PGCE, FRCGP has extensive experience of NHS Primary and Secondary care. He has been a Clinical Director of Potters Bar Primary Care Network since the inception of PCNs and during the formation and development of Integrated Care Systems. He is the Senior Principal of Highview Medical Centre in Potters Bar, and a GP Educator with Health Education East of England. Additionally, he works as a Clinical Ophthalmologist with the Moorfields Eye Hospital where he currently sits as a Governor of the Trust.

He is a Member of the Southwest Herts Clinical Care Partnership where is on the Primary Care Digital and Technology sub-committee. He is an Assembly Member of the East of England Clinical Senate. He has deep interest in International Healthcare, with experience of clinical care in the UK, the USA, Australia, India, Portugal and Kenya. His Primary Care leadership focus is around: Collaborative Leadership, Quality of Services, Patient Safety, Technology in Healthcare and Healthy Ageing.

Omar has been a physiotherapist working in and around the NHS for over 10 years, including significant time working in the community setting. He graduated in 2011 from Brunel University with an Honours degree in Physiotherapy and worked for 3 years at United Lincolnshire Hospitals trust as a band 5, undertaking various core rotations. After relocating to London, Omar worked at Imperial College Healthcare Foundation Trust for a further 5 years, specialising in medical and neurology specialties in therapy, thus consolidating his experience and knowledge.

Subsequently, Omar transitioned to the Guys and St Thomas’s @home team, where he specialised in rapid response and admission avoidance therapy for 2 years. He then joined the GSTT Community Neuro rehab team for 5 months. Following this, he took up a locum role working in Neurology and stroke at the Homerton Hospital. Currently, Omar holds a position in the community Neuro rehab team for East London Foundation Trust.

Since moving into the community setting, Omar has gained insight into how it enables practitioners to provide optimal care to patients, resulting in positive outcomes for both patients and the healthcare system as a whole. His experiences have ignited a passion for primary care, particularly in improving communication and collaboration across different organisations to enhance health outcomes and the quality of life for service users.

Cath qualified as a Registered Mental Health Nurse in 1988 and worked in acute mental health services before becoming a Community Psychiatric Nurse in 1990, gaining a Diploma of Higher Education in Community Health. She went on the develop and manage Manchester’s innovative Homeless Mental Health Service before moving into senior management roles. Her last substantive role in the NHS was managing Urgent, Acute and In Patient Mental Health Services across 3 acute trust footprints.

Cath has always taken a keen interest in Primary Care, sitting as a Professional Executive Committee and Nurse Board Member in North Manchester Primary Care Trust for 4 years, and taking a lead in developing primary care mental health services and commissioning of specialist services. During this time, she attained a Master’s Degree in Health Service Management at Manchester Business School.

From 2015 Cath took time off work to become a full-time carer for her parents, returning to the NHS in 2018 in the capacity of Non-Executive Director at Pennine Care NHS Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Trust for a period of 3 years.

Cath continues to work as a Non-Executive Director at Catalyse, a not-for-profit organisation promoting the benefit of Cognitive Analytic Therapy for individuals and services particularly in the public sector. She joined NAPC in December 2021 where she has primarily worked on the development and delivery of the CARE Programme, and more recently on delivery of Care Navigation Training.

Donal has a background in NHS GP experience spanning 27 years, with the latter half of his career spent in senior leadership positions. These roles included Senior Partner in a practice with 16,000 patients, Chairman of a primary care company delivering intermediate services to the community, and Chairman of a GP federation covering 40 practices and over 200,000 patients, which he played a pivotal role in establishing. During this time, he was the clinical lead for an NHS vanguard project in Hampshire, which received the HSJ system leadership award in 2019.

Donal is also the founder of BarlowCollins Ltd, a company with a mission to improve metabolic health by delivering insulin sensitivity to those who wish to enhance their well-being. One of their current projects in Havant, UK, has been running since 2021, with significant improvement in metrics within the engaged population. This project received an award at the Clinical Pharmacists’ Congress in 2021.

Donal is a medical director role at Redicare UK Ltd, a company gaining traction among Primary Care Networks in the south of England. He also serves as an advisor to Gosport and Fareham Academy School, where he works with school children to enhance the health of the town. Donal is also a member of the NAPC clinical faculty.

Deb is a Complex Care GP and Clinical Lead for Complex Care in South Somerset. She helped set up their cross-organisational neighbourhood team from a Vanguard project 7 years ago. Prior to this she worked as a GP partner for 16 years and also worked in A&E as an Acute Care GP. Care of the older population, with shared decision making and person-centred care is her passion, whilst supporting upcoming professionals from all areas to show them the joy in this work.

As part of the NHS England Clinical Entrepreneur Programme she has developed skills to spread innovation and is particularly interested in appropriate person centred prescribing, and working together with adult social care. Deb also enjoys being a member of the British Geriatric Society where she is currently the Ageing Well/Proactive Care Lead for the Community and Primary Care Group.

Joanna sits within the digital team on NAPC Faculty, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge from an organisational, operational and project management perspective. With a background spanning many sectors from health/fitness and sports, hospitality, education, and a decade of insight from primary care. She currently writes and delivers national training programmes to PCNs for roles including but not limited to as, Leadership, Social Prescribing, Care Navigation, and many key users of the digital innovations entering the primary care landscape.

She has been instrumental in leading and delivering many projects and service re-design across the healthcare sector including migration of clinical system across a borough, merging of clinical systems across practices, and incorporation of PCNs. She continues to support PCNs and ICS/ICS across the country in matters such as PCN development and strategy, PCN Governance and business continuity, PCN service line design as well as workforce planning and workstream modelling, and digital adoption.

She has been involved in desktop research, end user qualitative evaluation, mobilisation for electronic consultations, early adoption of population health management tools, telephony systems, website design tools, she has spent the last two years specialising and supporting digital implementation, reviewing, and supporting developers with product design and challenging them on their ability to ensure features are fit for purpose and that products can demonstrate they deliver real world value and impact.

Joanna has supported the NAPC faculty on programmes of work such as marketplace analysis of online consultation providers framework, social prescribing link worker caseload management framework, and the implementation of long-term management tool for Hypertension across multiple ICS/ICBs.

Emma Bownas is an Occupational Therapist with a clinical background in Acute Medicine and Elderly care. She advanced her career to become the Therapy Manager and AHP lead at Bolton Foundation Trust, where she took opportunities to collaborate with the local authority to deliver an integrated approach to reablement. Following this role, she held the position of Department Manager for General Surgery and Urology.

In 2013, Emma transitioned into the field of Commissioning during the establishment of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). Her focus was on Quality, and she held the role of Head of Quality. Emma is currently the Deputy Director of Improvement for Primary Care in Calderdale, West Yorkshire (ICB). In this capacity, she has worked diligently with colleagues throughout Calderdale to initiate their journey into Population Health Management.

Having grown up in Calderdale and commenced her career there, Emma is enthusiastic about adopting a Population Health Management approach to enhance health outcomes for her community. Her passion extends to both patients and the dedicated healthcare professionals who deliver care. Emma firmly believes that employing a Population Health Management approach through collaborative partnerships maximises individuals’ potential and enhances outcomes. This work has put her team in a good position to embark on the development of neighborhood teams, building upon the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) approach to address rising health risks. Emma’s initiatives encompass children, young people, working-age adults, and older individuals, all of which are beginning to demonstrate the efficacy of innovative approaches.

Dr. Manir Aslam is a GP partner at Broadway Health Centre, an inner city GP practice located in Birmingham. In addition to his role at Broadway Health Centre, Dr. Aslam has held significant leadership positions in the healthcare sector. He was appointed as the GP Director and Governing Body Member at Sandwell, and later, he assumed the position of Chair at SWB CCG, where he led the transition from SWB CCG to BSOL CCG.

As the Urgent Care Clinical Lead at the CCG, he has played a pivotal role in delivering key projects, including the integration of NHS 111 into GP clinical systems, the implementation of GP Out of Hours Flex services, and the improvement of a practice that was placed in special measures by CQC. Dr. Manir Aslam is driven by a deep commitment to reducing health inequalities. He recognises that these inequalities often stem from complex and deeply rooted social determinants of health. His focus is on ensuring that support and delivery systems are designed to address these challenges through practical measures that can make a real difference.

In 2017, he was honored as a local hero by Pulse, receiving the award for “Giving Hope for the Future.” Furthermore, his practice has been the recipient of three awards in the last three years, recognising their outstanding achievements in innovation and collaboration.