Angela McCann
Salaried NHS GP, Private GP, Co-founder Belfast Lifestyle Medicine
I love the diversity of my jobs
Angela
I have been a GP for 16 years. After GP training in London and I moved back to my native Belfast in 2008. This transition was difficult as I never went to medical school or worked in NI. I really could have benefited from a returner scheme back then. Following a mixture of locum and salaried work in NI for 2 years, I moved to Abu Dhabi with my husband 2010. There I worked as a Lead Physician and Royal/VIP Family Doctor for 8 years. We moved back to Belfast in 2018. I joined the returner scheme and then transitioned to the retainer scheme.
I love the diversity of my jobs. I am fortunate to work in a friendly forward thinking NHS practice for 2 days a week. I balance that with private work. I do health assessments for Nuffield Healthcare one day a week. This gives me the opportunity to put my lifestyle medical training into practice which is my absolute passion. I completed the diploma in Lifestyle Medicine with the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine in 2020. I co-founded Belfast Lifestyle Medicine with my friend and colleague in 2019. This was initially set up as a clinic but we put the consultancy aside during the pandemic to focus on our NHS work. We are now working on a digital lifestyle medicine app which is taking up most of our free time! I hope to Develop lifestyle medicine within my NHS role.
I do not have enough praise for both the returner and retainer schemes. General Practice had changed so much in my 8 year absence. It was so comforting to be supported back into the system by Louise and team and by my GP supervisor. Having been thrown into the deep end of GP life in NI in 2008 a decade later it was the absolute opposite.