Dr Faizan Ahmed grew up in Manchester and read medicine at the University of Manchester before qualifying as a GP in 2010. He spent a year as a locum before taking over a failing inner-city, single-handed practice in central Manchester in 2011, and set about trying to deliver a high quality service to some of the most deprived, high-need patients in the country.
He built a strong practice team, which achieved year-on-year improvements in the QOF, as well as year-on-year reductions in A&E attendances - down by 34% last year compared with 2011/12.
The patient list size has grown by 69% since 2011, and Dr Ahmed has taken on two new GP partners. The practice pioneered a rapid GP face-to-face triage system for urgent same-day presentations in 2013 and an innovative video consultation service using Skype in 2012. The practice took on its first GP registrar in 2013.
RCGP president Professor Mike Pringle presents the award
Among many medical representative roles, Dr Ahmed is vice chair of GP provider organisation Primary Care Manchester, and a panelist for the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service. He is about to embark on an MA in Theology.
Dr Ahmed said: 'I realised pretty early on that I could not ensure consistent high quality care on my own, so I tried to build a team around me that could help transform the practice. The practice's achievements matter much more to me than my personal achievements, given that central Manchester has some of the worst health statistics in the country.'
THE JUDGES SAID:
This is an inspirational young GP, whose focus on patients and teamwork has achieved admirable results in a deprived inner-city area
The GP Enterprise Awards are organised by GP magazine and GPonline, in association with the RCGP and sponsored by the MDU. Each of the six category winners receives £1,000 and has the chance to become the overall winner in a vote by the profession - and win a further £4.000.
To vote for this practice as the overall winner of the GP Enterprise Awards 2014 - and be entered into a prize draw to win an iPad Mini - vote online now.
