Dr Maureen Baker CBE is the new Chair-elect of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). She will succeed the current Chair Dr Clare Gerada in November 2013.
Dr Maureen Baker CBE is the new Chair-elect of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). She will succeed the current Chair Dr Clare Gerada in November 2013.
In the election, conducted by Electoral Reform Services, Dr Baker received 37 votes and Dr Steve Mowle 21 votes, out of a possible 67 votes.
However in April this year The Commissioning Review reported a ‘technical error’ meant Dr Baker was not appointed chair.
Dr Baker has been a GP since 1985 and currently practises in Lincoln.
She has substantial leadership experience within the RCGP where she served as Honorary Secretary from 1999-2009. She is currently a member of the RCGP Trustee Board, a nationally elected member of College Council, and RCGP Lead for Emergency Planning and Preparedness.
She said: "I am delighted and honoured to be elected to such an important role at the RCGP. Later this year the NHS will celebrate its 65th anniversary in a landscape of financial austerity and an environment more complex and challenging than at any time in its history.
“This very week, news of the serious problems facing A&E units only serves to underline the desperate need for adequately resourced and properly integrated GP services.
“I am more convinced than ever that GPs, and their professional body, have a crucial role to play in helping the NHS tackle the challenges of the years ahead. I look forward to playing my part in meeting these challenges.”
Dr Baker formerly chaired the RCGP/GPC Emergency Planning Group and led efforts by the College and the GP profession in preparing for and dealing with the 2009 Influenza Pandemic.
Dr Baker will take up the role of Chair Elect following the next Council meeting in June and will formally become the next Chair of College Council at the November meeting.
