Lesley Southgate: first female professor of general practice, who supported efforts to weed out poorly performing doctors

Lesley Southgate was the first female professor of general practice at St Bartholomew's in London. She gained prominence by supporting Donald Irvine, the first GP to become president of the General Medical Council (GMC). Irvine's program focused on finding ways to assess poorly performing doctors. His efforts to reform the GMC, by changing concepts of professionalism and making the patient, rather than the doctor, the center of care, provoked anger. The British Medical Association (BMA) passed a vote of no confidence in the council, fearing an erosion of the profession's power. Several high-profile scandals, including that of GP Harold Shipman, who is thought to have murdered around 215 of his own patients, aided Irvine's push for radical change. Southgate's appointment as professor generated hostility because she was a woman and a GP.