GP in Sefton wins national Macmillan award

NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) cancer and end of life GP lead has won a national Macmillan award for cross boundary working.

Dr Debbie Harvey received the inaugural David Millar award, named after the charity’s first GP adviser, at the annual Macmillan Primary Care conference in Manchester.

Macmillan regional GP advisers were asked to nominate leads in their areas and Dr Hong Tseung and Dr Sinead Clarke nominated Debbie. They commended her for her achievements within the primary care community with a focus on working across boundaries.

In his submission Dr Hong Tseung said: “I feel that [Debbie’s] achievements in her immediate locality (NHS South Sefton CCG) and beyond since her appointment suits the criteria of the award very well.

“At her interview in 2012 she demonstrated her forward vision and ambitions to improve cancer and end of life care for her population in south Sefton. I have seen her evolve over the last three years, from a confident Macmillan GP, into a significant and influential clinical leader, who commands respect from her peers in all healthcare settings.”

Debbie said: “I’m still in shock as I am so honoured to have won this award. A huge thank you goes to Hong and Sinead for nominating me and to all of my team at NHS South Sefton CCG and colleagues beyond the CCG who have supported my work, I couldn’t have got here without all of their support.

“We have worked extremely hard this year rolling out our Care Home Innovation Programme (CHIP) as it’s so important to us as a team to ensure that care home residents receive high quality care as they approach the end of life.”

Dr Rosie Loftus, joint chief medical officer at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Debbie has demonstrated exceptional cross boundary working and clearly recognises and demonstrates the value of a collaborative approach. This together with her passion and enthusiasm has enabled her to make such significant impact on the care of people affected by cancer.

“Macmillan introduced the David Millar award to honour his memory, he was an outstanding and highly respected Macmillan GP adviser who set the bar high and Debbie is a very worthy winner.”

Macmillan aim to reach and improve the lives of everyone living with cancer and to inspire millions of others to do the same.

There are 2.5 million people living with cancer in the UK today, and as more people live longer with their cancer, this number is set to grow to 4 million by 2030. Macmillan want to make sure it can provide support to everyone who needs it, to help people affected by cancer feel more in control of their lives.