14. Professor Simon Gregory

This Northampton GP has one of the hardest jobs in medical education. As Health Education England lead for general practice, he has to convince medical graduates to specialise in general practice. And last year, 2,927 doctors started GP training, the highest number ever. But this still missed his target of 3,250 trainees a year, which was meant to be achieved by 2015.

Professor Gregory’s tweaks to recruitment, including an option allowing trainees to hold their place for a year if they intend to take a break, were commended as key in ‘trying to maintain recruitment’.

But while last year’s figures were a highlight of the last year – alongside his beloved Northampton Saints’ last minute qualification for the European Champions Cup – he is clear that HEE will ‘redouble our efforts’ to enhance GP recruitment.

One priority will be the targeted training and support programme revealed by Pulse last year to provide extra support for doctors unable to pass parts of the MRCGP qualifying exam, and speed up training for doctors switching to GP.

And he also will be, as chair of the RCGP’s Medical Ethics Committee, setting out the College’s position on contentious issues creeping into daily workloads, like referral management systems.

Why influential

Performing CPR on GP recruitment, with the eyelids flickering

What he says

‘I won’t relax until we increase applicants year on year’

Random fact

Vice chair of Astrea Schools Academy Trust