Following an election Dr Frances O’Hagan has been named as the new chair of the Northern Ireland General Practitioners Committee. Dr O’Hagan has been deputy to Alan Stout for the past six years and she is the first woman to hold the role in Northern Ireland.
Speaking about her election she said, “I am very honoured to have been elected as chair of NIGPC and I take the responsibility of the role very seriously. General practice in Northern Ireland remains under pressure, while we have made some gains recently I am very conscious there is still a lot of work to be done to stabilise the service and make sure that it is properly and fully funded. Only by doing that can we reduce the pressure GPs are under and see a service where patients feel their needs are being met.
“I hope to build on the outstanding work done by the previous chair and take forward plans for a new, better, contract. I want to make general practice a job young doctors want to go into, I want to make it something they are proud to do and a career that is fulfilling and enjoyable.
Dr O’Hagan is the first woman to hold the post of GP committee chair in Northern Ireland, “Being the first woman to hold the role is something is an honour, and it’s a significant change. There are now more female GPs than males in Northern Ireland, the demographics are shifting, so it’s important to see that reflected in the GP leadership. I hope that during my time as chair I will be able to bring more women onto the committee and into leadership roles in BMA and the LMCs so we can see a broad range of opinions, views and experiences represented.”
Dr Frances O’Hagan has been the Deputy chair of the Northern Ireland General Practitioners Committee (NIGPC) from 2018 and she has also been the Chair of the Southern Local Medical Committee (LMC). Dr O’Hagan qualified as a doctor from Queen’s University Belfast in 1989. She has been a GP partner in The Friary Surgery in Armagh since 1997 and is now the senior partner in the practice.
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