Alex Harding (Professor)

Background

I have worked as a GP in Exeter for the last twenty-five years, now as senior partner at St Leonards Practice, a city centre research practice which specialises in research on continuity of care. I feel it is critical that clinical teachers and policy-makers in primary care have a hands on approach that incorporates a working knowledge of how real clinical practice is done.

I am professor of primary care education at Exeter. My roles involve director of undergraduate primary care placements, making sure the community part of the medical school programme (about 25%) runs smoothly. I am also involved in curriculum development and innovation and am course director of the Masters in Clinical Education and also the Principles of Primary Care Masterclass, CPD and Masters Programmes.  

The new Principles of Primary Care programmes look at Primary Care not only as a wide assortment of clinical conditions, but also as a set of principles that can deliver holistic care and add coherence. It is this coherent, holistic approach that makes primary care the most efficient form of healthcare. Using this approach, I have developed undergraduate and postgraduate curricula at several UK Universities. I conceptualised and wrote in partnership with the RCGP and all UK medical schools  the first UK national curriculum, for undergraduate primary care, now used in all UK medical schools and am editor of the accompanying textbook.  I  am co-editor of a video-textbook based on the national curriculum and am currently working with a technology company to develop live-streaming technology to further enhance clinical teaching in primary care.

Using these techniques and the principles-based approach, the principles of primary care courses now consist of masterclasses, CPD days, individual modules, Certificate, Diploma and Masters level study. This offers a convenient 'step-on, step-off' structure that provides a graduated entry for practitioners into postgraduate study.

 Apart from the quality of experience, recruitment to primary care as a profession is directly related to the quantity of undergraduate experience.  To this end, I worked with the UK Government and other national medical bodies for ten years to secure better pay for primary care teachers, securing an uplift of £70M/yr. Our clinical learning recommendations have been legislated for in some UK countries and have significantly strengthened undergraduate primary care in others.

I am involved in international curriculum development and after developing European guidelines on Primary Care teaching, am working with various organisations (EU, EC, WHO and others) to strengthen primary care in Europe.

Through our international courses on the Principles of Primary Care, we are currently working with several countries in Africa and Asia to strengthen Primary Care teaching and system strengthening. 

I provide consultancy about primary care curriculum and educational policy at multiple levels; local, national and international.  Please contact me directly if you are interested in this. 

Research

My research interests are two-fold:

1. Using qualitative approaches to investigate how clinical learning takes place in both community and hospital settings. My work focusses on the use of socio-material theories such as Actor-Network-Theory.

2. I devise and implement national and international mixed-method survays to develop evidence-based educational policy. I have worked with medical schools, health organisations, governments and NGOs such as WHO in this respect.

Interests:

• Clinical learning
• Curriculum innovation
• Curriculum design
• Policy development
• Playing blues guitar

Qualifications:

• MBBS
• BSc (Neurobiology)
• MEd
• DEd
• FRCGP
• PFHEA
• DRCOG
• DFFP
• DCH