Family doctor to join reforms panel

A BMA Northern Ireland representative has been appointed to a panel to advise on health and social care reforms. BMA Northern Ireland GPs committee deputy chair Alan Stout (pictured) will join the group convened by the health minister. Belfast GP Dr Stout is one of six experts appointed to the panel, which will examine issues such as an ageing population, the increasing number of people with chronic conditions, and technological advances. Dr Stout said: ‘I’m delighted to be appointed to this panel and look forward to working with what is a great team of professional experts in examining ways to advance these vital reforms. ‘As a GP based in east Belfast, one of Northern Ireland’s most populous areas, I see first hand daily the pressures that our health service faces at the coal face, so I hope I am well placed to advise on how reforms should be rolled out.’   International perspective The panel is chaired by Professor Rafael Bengoa, a senior fellow of Harvard School of Public Health and former minister for health and consumer affairs in the Basque Government in Spain. The principal focus of the expert panel will be to ‘draw on the experience of those working in or using health and social care services in Northern Ireland, but also to ensure there is an international perspective’. Health minister Simon Hamilton said: ‘This will be a clinically led process to advise us what services the people of Northern Ireland should ex...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news