Several GPs have been recognised for their achievements and contributions to healthcare in the King’s New Year Honours list.
A total of five GPs made the list for 2025, which ‘recognises the achievements and service of extraordinary people across the UK’.
RCGP Wales chair Dr Rowena Christmas, who is also a GP principal at the Wye Valley Practice in Gwent, was awarded an MBE for her services to general practice.
Dr Matthew Kearney, a GP in Shropshire who is also the former NHS England clinical director for cardiovascular disease prevention, received an OBE in the 2025 list.
He said he was ‘deeply honoured’ to receive the award, which marked his services both to health and to CVD prevention.
NHSE said Dr Kearney has founded ‘several major resources driving prevention in primary care’, including the national primary care audit CVDprevent.
In response to the award, the GP added: ‘My work has grown from the conviction that we could do much better at preventing the devastation of heart attacks and strokes.
‘But none of it would have been possible without the support and creativity of friends in UCLPartners, NHS England and the Department of Health who all share the passion for transforming CVD prevention.’
Three other GPs also made the list, becoming Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs).
This included Professor Clare Wilkinson, who is the emeritus professor of general practice at Bangor University.
The King recognised her services to primary care research, teaching and practice.
The other GPs recognised were:
- Dr Stephen Reaney, a GP in County Armagh who was recognised for his voluntary service to the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS); and
- Dr Chris Robinson, a GP in Inverness-shire who was honoured for his services to the community in Lochaber.
NIAS congratulated Dr Reaney on his award, saying he has provided support as a BASICS doctor, often turning up at serious road traffic collisions ‘to provide lifesaving medical interventions and assistance alongside NIAS crews’.
The ambulance service added: ‘Stephen has also devoted much of his free time providing voluntary aid in developing countries and is also a member of the UK’s Emergency Medical Team which provides direct assistance at some of the world’s major catastrophes.’
The Honours list also included Patricia Hewitt, who has been made a Dame for services to ‘healthcare transformation’.
Ms Hewitt, a former health secretary and current chair of Norfolk and Waveney ICS, conducted a major Government review in into integrated care systems in 2023 which recommended a ‘new framework’ for GP contracts.
She argued that ‘radical reform’ was needed as national contracts present a ‘significant barrier’ to local innovations.
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