John was a GP in Cockermouth for over 20 years until April 2014. He has had a varied career including clinical director for community services, medical director of Cumbria’s GP Out of Hours cooperative, chairing the primary care research group, a GP trainer for over 10 years and medical adviser to the local hospice at home charity. During the 1990s John worked in 13 different conflicts and natural disasters becoming medical director and head of operations of in international disaster relief charity. He led the health response to the floods in Cockermouth in 2009. He was a runner up in the national NHS Leadership Awards in 2010 (open to 1.3million employees with over 1000 nominations) and received a Fellowship in Public Health through distinction in 2011.