Dr Clare BannonUnion

Biography

Dr Clare Bannon is chair of the BMA's General Practitioners Committee for England (GPC England), elected unopposed and taking office on 9 July 2026. She has practised as a GP in Barnsley since 2010, where she has held roles in the local clinical commissioning group, integrated care board, and local medical committee. Prior to becoming chair she served on GPC England as deputy chair and as policy lead for clinical and prescribing, and practice business, from 2021. She led national work on prescribing COVID therapeutics and on exploring alternatives to GP-issued fit notes to reduce workload. She has stated publicly that she remains ready to ballot the profession over further collective action if an unacceptable GMS contract is imposed, and has called for investment to restore general practice.

References

1. 1.Dr Clare Bannon elected chair of BMA GPs committee for England – BMA media centre — Confirms election, role title, date of taking office, Barnsley GP background since 2010, GPC England roles since 2021, national work on COVID therapeutics and fit notes.
2. 2.Dr Clare Bannon elected as next BMA GP committee chair – Pulse Today — Corroborates election, unopposed result, previous deputy chair role, GPC England policy lead roles, fit note work.
3. 3.New chair of BMA GP committee elected – Doctors.net.uk — Confirms Barnsley GP background from 2010, readiness to ballot profession over imposed GMS contract, collective action context.
4. 4.GPs in England urge practices and patients to back campaign – BMA media centre — Establishes Dr Bannon as active GPC England chair making public statements on GP collective action and contract dispute.

Expertise

Cited on

• GP access
• Cancer

Stated areas of expertise

• GP contract negotiation
• Primary care workforce
• Collective action and industrial relations
• Prescribing policy
• GP fit notes and workload reduction
• Integrated care system governance

Notable achievements

• Elected unopposed as chair of BMA GPC England in July 2026, succeeding Dr Katie Bramall. Source ↗
• Led national work on prescribing COVID therapeutics while serving as GPC England policy lead. Source ↗
• Led GPC England work exploring alternatives to GP-issued fit notes to reduce unnecessary GP workload. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “The Health Foundation report shows that only around one in 10 of all GPs are on incomes over £200k. The vast majority earn significantly less. Real-terms earnings have in fact dropped over the last 20 years according to this report, which confirms any additional funding is going into services, not GP pay.”

  BMA England GP committee chair · GP access · 27 Aug 2026 · Only a minority of GP partners earn £250k-plus, despite headline figures ↗

• “Since its introduction, GPs have expressed deep concern with the advice and guidance system – we know our patients and know when a referral needs to be made. So this report is tragic vindication for these concerns, now showing that patients have come to harm as a result of this rushed-out and inconsistently applied process.”

  GPs' committee chair at the British Medical Association · Cancer · 27 Aug 2026 · GPs’ advice service is causing cancer diagnoses to be missed, inquiry finds ↗

• “We know that patients are both frustrated and exhausted by the state of general practice. They've seen in real time the slow and gradual decline in services, quality of care and the loss of their family doctor.”

  BMA GPs committee chair · GP access · 6 Aug 2026 · GPs in England urge practices and patients to back campaign to save the profession and improve patient care ↗

Source references

1. Only a minority of GP partners earn £250k-plus, despite headline figurespulsetoday.co.uk · 27 Aug 2026
2. GPs’ advice service is causing cancer diagnoses to be missed, inquiry findstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
3. GPs in England urge practices and patients to back campaign to save the profession and improve patient carebma.org.uk · 6 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/dr-clare-bannon-elected-chair-of-bma-gps-committee-for-england
• Websitehttps://www.bma.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/get-in-touch/contact-us

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