Open letter from Chair GP Survival and petition to Matt Hancock (Secretary of State for Health) and Simon Stevens (Chief Exec NHSE) calling for resignation of Dr Arvind Madan from role as Director of Primary Care of NHS England.
Dear Mr Hancock and Mr Stevens
The members of GPSurvival* are requesting that Dr Arvind Madan is removed from his position as NHS England Director of Primary Care, following his attributable comments in an article in Pulse, and now reported in mainstream media, where he sees the failure of small GP practices to survive in the current climate as something ‘most GPs would welcome as market rationalisation’.
When challenged on this view by interview he stands by these comments. His position is based on no hard evidence of benefit of larger practices other than his personal belief, and is an insult to the efforts of hardworking colleagues in small practices who deliver the excellent high quality care to their patients, and who via delivery of personal continuity of care over many years improve health and reduce long-term costs to the NHS.
We believe that he has damaged the confidence of GPs and his continued position, especially for those working in smaller practices, is incompatible with helping build their confidence to invest and recruit, and further demoralises our profession, at a time when we are already facing significant challenges.
Dr Madan, while working as a partner in the Hurley Group, one of the largest practices in England, has demonstrated a clear conflict of interest in expressing his ambivalence to support smaller practices and may stand to benefit personally by pursuing an agenda of small practice merger and consolidation for the Hurley Group.
We feel that his position as NHS England Director of Primary Care is no longer compatible with serving the needs of all practices in NHS England and we demand that a replacement is sought urgently who is more sympathetic to the survival of all practices.
Yours sincerely
Dr Alan Woodall
Chair of GPSurvival (UK)
*GPSurvival is a grassroots member organisation representing the interests of over 8,000 GPs in the United Kingdom
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