A RAMSEY GP has been elected president of the prestigious Royal College of General Practitioners. Professor David Haslam, who has been a GP at Ramsey Health Centre for 30 years, said: I m absolutely delighted to have been given the honour of being elect

A RAMSEY GP has been elected president of the prestigious Royal College of General Practitioners.

Professor David Haslam, who has been a GP at Ramsey Health Centre for 30 years, said: "I'm absolutely delighted to have been given the honour of being elected to be the next president of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

"I have had a fascinating career as a GP with tremendous support from my family, my partners and my practice team, and this is the icing on the cake."

Professor Haslam's new role will start in November and will last for three years.

He will visit GPs across the UK and around the world, sharing ideas and learning from them.

He said: "General Practice is increasingly being seen as the way forward for the health service.

"People are living much longer and need good primary health care teams locally to care for them.

"I hope to continue the good work of the president before me as an ambassador for general practice and for the college's membership."

His wife, Barbara, is a senior paediatric physiotherapist in Huntingdonshire and their daughter, Kate, is a GP and son Chris is a journalist.

Over the years, Professor Haslam has divided his time between his practice and writing 13 books, which include Sleepless Children, The Mothercare Guide for the Expectant Father and Your Child's Symptoms Explained.

He was also co-presenter on Anglia TV's Bringing Up Baby and was agony uncle for Practical Parenting magazine for many years.

Founded in 1952 to act as the voice of general practitioners, The Royal College of General Practitioners has 24,000 members and is devoted to improving standards of care for patients, as well as education, training and research for GPs.