Senior GP resigns over remark on doctors’ pay

NHS England director said he used anonymous profile to ‘challenge the negative views of a vocal minority’

An NHS chief has resigned after using a fake online profile to suggest GPS are overpaid. Dr Arvind Madan, NHS England’s director of primary care and deputy medical director, and the country’s most senior GP, has admitted using the pseudonym “Devil’s Advocate” to post messages on a forum saying the public did not support doctors’ salaries. Dr Madan said it was never his intention to cause offence but it was clear he had “lost the confidence of some of my colleagues”.

THE country’s most senior GP has resigned after using a fake online profile to attack family doctors and suggest that they are overpaid. Dr Arvind Madan, NHS England’s director of primary care and deputy medical director, has admitted using the pseudonym “Devil’s Advocate” to post anonymous messages on a forum.

In one message, he wrote: “We can get six-figure salaries for working four days a week, 45 weeks a year. Run that past the general public and see how much sympathy you get.”

He had already been facing the ire of GPS for suggesting in an interview with

Pulse magazine, on whose website he posted the anonymous comments, that they should be “pleased” when small practices closed. Dr Madan, who works as a GP in London, apologised “unreservedly” for his behaviour, particularly to those who ran small practices.

He had issued an apology on Friday for his comments in the interview, but over the weekend he was outed as the anonymous poster after his details were pieced together by other doctors using the site.

In a statement, Dr Madan said: “It is clear to me that, sadly, I have lost the confidence of some of my colleagues, and I have therefore decided to resign my NHS England position. As part of my attempts to challenge the negative views – and even conspiracy theories – held by a small but vocal minority in the profession, I posted on an anonymous online forum used by GPS.

“It was never my intention to cause offence but rather to provoke a more balanced discussion about contentious issues acting as a devil’s advocate.

“I wish to make it categorically clear that these comments are not a reflection of NHS England policy, and it is now clear to me that trying to move the debate on in this way is not compatible with my role as director of primary care. Supporting general practice is too important an issue to allow it to be mired in unnecessary controversy.”

His resignation came as the British Medical Association (BMA) wrote to Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the NHS. In the letter, Dr Mark Sanfordwood, the deputy chairman of the BMA GP committee, wrote: “We feel that posting under a pseudonym in this way is unacceptable for someone in his position and urge you to ask him to consider whether he can continue as director of primary care for NHS England.”

GP Survival, which represents 8,000 GPS, had also petitioned for Dr Madan’s resignation.

Sources at NHS England said that the resignation was Dr Madan’s decision and the letter from the BMA had not even been sent when the resignation was tendered.

Dr Sanford-wood said: “It is only right that he has done the right thing and offered his resignation.”