GP and Self Care Forum Board member, Professor Nigel Sparrow from the RCGP is the new National Professional Advisor for Primary Care at the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Nigel replaces former SCF Board member Professor David Haslam who stood down from the Board to concentrate on his role of chair at NICE on 1st April 2013, although he remains as an advisor to the SCF Board.

Nigel, who took up his post at the CQC on 15 April 2013, said about his appointment: “I am very pleased to have been asked to join the CQC as the national professional adviser for primary care.  The Commission has a vital role to play in improving and maintaining the quality of health and social care across all healthcare sectors including general practice. I look forward to using my experience in the profession to further facilitate the work that the CQC has been doing with general practice to improve the quality of care for patients and work with the profession to ensure that the implementation of regulation is fair and proportionate.”

Speaking further about self care, Professor Sparrow added: “General practice is about person centred relationship based care and as such GPs are ideally placed to support patients to look after their own health. This is particularly important in the management of both acute self-limiting and long term conditions so that people can safely manage many conditions themselves without reliance on acute primary and secondary care services. The shared care consultation in general practice allows GPs to develop individualised person centred care so that patients know when and how to call for medical help when required.”