Helen Stokes-Lampard is Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), the UK’s largest Medical Royal College, representing over 52,000 family doctors across the UK. The Chair shapes policy and leads the strategy of the College, working with politicians, policy makers and the media to ensure that the ‘voice’ of general practice and GPs is understood and represented.
As part of her role as RCGP Chair she has a high media profile with over 80 TV, 150 radio and 2000 appearances in printed media (newspapers) in 2017. She sits on national workforce committees and meets with politicians and policy makers at Dept of Health, NHS England, the General Medical Council, Health Education England, Public Health England, the Care Quality Commission, National Instiute of Clinical Excellent, CMOs office and other relevant bodies. She is also the Vice Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
Helen was previously RCGP Honorary Treasurer (2012-16), the first female to hold this position. As Honorary Treasurer she had responsibility for all matters related to the College finances and assets including premises, IT and human resources.
She is a part-time GP partner at The Westgate Practice Greenhill Health Centre in Lichfield (formerly know as The Cloisters Medical Practice), Staffordshire, a friendly, dynamic group practice which she joined in 2002, having just completed her academic GP training in inner city Birmingham and at the Medical School in Birmingham University.
Prior to training as a GP, Helen worked in Obstetrics and Gynaecology for several years and this experience shaped her clinical and academic aspirations. She was a personal mentor for doctors in difficulty in the Midlands until 2016, a scheme supported by the West Midlands Deanery and RCGP Midland Faculty.
Helen was the Head of Primary Care Teaching (undergraduate) in the Medical School of the University of Birmingham until becoming RCGP Chair.
Her diverse research interests have spanned gynaecological cancer screening, all aspects of women's health, epidemiology and data linkage studies. The subject of her PhD was 'Variation in NHS Utilisation of Vault Cytology Tests in Women post-hysterectomy'.
She was Clinical Director of the accredited Primary Care Trials Unit at Birmingham until July 2012 when she resigned to allow her time to concentrate on her RCGP roles. She was also Head of the dynamic Academic GP Trainees programme at Birmingham (including MOD, NIHR and locally funded academic GP trainees). She ran an MSc module in Community Gynaecology and taught communication skills and ethics.
She is naturally enthusiastic and dynamic with a sense of humour and plenty of pragmatism.