Prof Harding qualified in medicine from the University of Birmingham in 1994. Before, during and after this time he undertook research in a number of areas which formed a basis for his future interest in continuous improvement of quality and safety in clinical settings.
Career
Harding has worked in inner-city Birmingham for more than 20 years. As a general practitioner and a medical educator, Harding has been an RCGP examiner and trainer for many years, involved in assessing national standards for general practice. He has held a number of national roles, including Senior Clinical Advisor to NHS England and NHS Improvement for RightCare and Integrated Care, a member of the Health Education Advisory Group, member of the Nuffield Trust Leadership Panel and co-chair of the Specialised Commissioning task force. He is a member of the General Advisory Panel for the King's Fund.
He has had a number of regional roles including being a member of the West Midlands Clinical Senate and he carried out a role for the Birmingham Crematorium from 1999 to 2018. In 2015 he created and sourced funding from Health Education West Midlands to support delivery of a new type of Primary Care Leadership development programme for future GP leaders. More than 120 GPs successfully completed this one-year programme. This programme has been positively evaluated, and has been picked up nationally and implemented across England as the 'Next Generation GP' leadership programme. This has run 41 programs in 26 cities with more than 1,750 participants in 3 years, with further programmes planned using resource support from NHS England and other organisations. Learning from the programme has been featured in a range of publications and podcasts, including a 2017 paper in Innovait, an RCGP journal aimed predominantly at GP trainees. Harding has published a range of clinical papers on radiation safety, application of cost-benefit analysis, patient communication, and on the threat of measles for the British Journal of General Practice.
Commissioning role
Harding was the Chair of the Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group, which covers two local authority areas: the whole borough of Sandwell and the western part of the City of Birmingham. The CCG is a membership organisation involving 99 GP practices serving around 547,400 patients across the area. It is broken down further into five Local Commissioning Groups – Black Country, Healthworks, ICoF, Pioneers for Health and Sandwell Health Alliance – that address the needs of the population on a local level. The CCG has won Health Service Journal CCG of the Year 2013 and 2015; and General Practice Commissioners of the Year 2014. It was rated as outstanding under NHS England's Improvement and Assessment Framework in 2016.
He was a founding Partner in Modality Partnership, which brings together 46 practices for almost 400,000 patients as of 2018. The partnership has invested in technology so that patients are supported with advice from their healthcare team in a range of ways, including online, over the phone, on their mobile or by Skype. This new type of super-partnership was referred to in the Kings Fund & Nuffield Trust's reviews of potential primary care models for the future and became a vanguard new model of care. The partnership has worked to improve primary care integration and at-scale quality of care in general practice. It is widening this local model for integration with community, mental health and social care services. Professor Harding continues to retain his clinical practice.
Operose Health
Harding joined Operose Health as Chief Medical Officer, his current role, in August 2019. Operose Health provides primary care, mental health and community services to patients across the UK and works with complex health systems to transform quality of care and patient experience.
Honours
Harding was recognised with a Queen's award OBE in June 2015 for services to primary care, and was awarded an honorary professorship from Aston University for his work in helping to establish the Aston Medical School. He was also named in the Health Service Journal top 100 clinical leaders of 2015, 2016 and 2017. He has an honorary Membership of the Faculty of Public Health and an honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians.
Personal life and influences
Harding has supported charity work in Malawi, working with local communities to improve health through education and sustained development. He attributes his interest in public health, patient safety and the provision of quality healthcare to his parents and grandfather, all of whom were in the medical profession. Harding's grandfather, Dr Colin Starkie, was the director of public health for Kidderminster and worked with political leaders to introduce the Clean Air Act 1956. His father, Dr Keith Harding, founded the Nuclear Medicine Department at Birmingham City Hospital in 1973. Harding has written a book on playing the guitar. He is married with three children.
