Steve Holmes MMedSci, MB ChB, FRCGP, DRCOG

Steve has worked as a general practitioner partner since 1989, having trained in Leicester and Northampton. He spent 13 years in a practice bordering the Yorkshire Dales and the Pendle / Ribble Valley (Earby). He moved to his current practice in Shepton Mallet, Somerset in 2002.

Educationally, Steve became a GP trainer in 1990; he was a GP Tutor and chaired the National Association of Primary Care Educators for 6 years. He has been a course organizer (Airedale Vocational Training Scheme) and has been an Associate Postgraduate Dean in Health Education South West since 2008. He has been involved in clinical governance and leadership within the PCG, PCT, and more recently CCG environment. He was been a lead GP appraiser in his area since 2002 stepping down 5 years ago – though still working as an appraiser. He has been involved for more than 20 years in New GP Trainer Courses and support for established GP trainers as well as Masters level Primary Care and Education based programs.

Steve has had a long-standing interest in communication skills and quality improvement practice. He taught nationally on quality improvement methods for the Improvement Foundation for 6 years and has been involved in communication skills training for clinicians across boundaries in primary and secondary care both locally and nationally.

Steve is a previous chair of the Primary Care Respiratory Society and is the current education lead. He was been a member of the British Asthma Guidelines (BTS/SIGN) from 2005 – 2015. He was a regional clinical respiratory lead (South West) from 2011-2015, working with national leads and the Department of Health to produce the National Outcomes Framework for COPD. He was a founder member and chair of IMPRESS (BTS/SIGN) and currently leads the Somerset CCG respiratory program board, having done this previously with involvement in commissioning and service development since 2002.

He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, is a reviewer for more than 10 active peer-reviewed journals and amongst other things has been involved in the NIHR (UK), advising the Canadian government on respiratory research funding, teaching in Bangladesh, and lecturing in many parts of Europe / USA.