CfH appoints two new GP clinical leads

Connecting for Health has appointed two new GP national clinical leads – former EMIS national user group chair Dr Manpreet Pujara and former NPfIT clinical lead for Derby City and County, Dr Peter Short.

The GPs will replace Professor Mike Pringle and Dr Gillian Braunold. Their role is to involve GPs directly in developing the benefits the national programme offers to clinical practice.

Dr Pujara, a GP at the Thorndike Healthcare Centre in Rochester, Kent and Dr Short, a GP at the Stewart Medical Centre, Buxton, Derbyshire, were both strong supporters of the GP Systems of Choice initiative.

Dr Pujara represented EMIS Users at the Joint GP IT Committee as well as the CfH Pan User and GP System of Choice groups. In January, Dr Short told EHI Primary Care he felt systems of choice was the way ahead, but more information needed to be available.

Dr Pujara says he is looking forward to his new role: “This is going to be an exciting time for primary care as the real benefits of improved information use for patients spreads across the country. It’s an important role to encourage GPs to take full advantage of the opportunities NHS CfH presents to them.

“Having worked on a number of NHS CfH issues relevant to GPs as well as on GP Systems of Choice, I’m pleased to have been appointed as one of the GP National Clinical Leads. I have been critical of some NHS CFH policies in the past for offering a single solution via Local Service Providers and requiring the majority of GPs to change their clinical systems. I have, however, always been fully behind the aims of NPfIT to improve safety and quality of care for patients.”

Dr Short says he wants to ensure that GPs are involved in CfH developments: “As a national clinical lead for GPs I hope to see and encourage more opportunities for colleagues from all clinical disciplines to contribute to current and future developments, on a local and national basis. My aim is to foster progression from engaging their interest to ensuring their participation and influence.

“My interest in the ‘usability’ of clinical software has led me to work through CfH with the Common User Interface (CUI) project team. This exciting work promises to deliver significant safety benefits for patients and clinicians by the adoption of common standards at the computer interface. These will improve the accuracy and ease of clinical coding. I also have a special interest in how systems communicate across care settings in order to support a multi-disciplinary team approach.”

CfH says that Dr Pujara’s work starts with immediate effect. He replaces Dr Braunold who has moved on to be clinical director for the Summary Care Record and Healthspace. Dr Short takes up his post in April when Professor Pringle’s term with CfH ends.