He was a general practitioner at senior partner at the Corbett Medical Centre in Droitwich, Worcestershire from 1987 to 1997 and was a GP principal partner at Bellevue Medical Centre in inner-city Birmingham. He has published academic papers, reports and books and he has presented papers at academic meetings around the world. He has been a member of the core faculty of the
Harvard University's Harvard Macy Institute programme "Leading Innovation in Healthcare & Education", in
Boston, USA (2003-2018). He was Regional Postgraduate Dean for the NHS West Midlands and helped shape cross-government policy and service delivery to ensure that the reforms across health and social care worked for all members of society, including the most vulnerable. He worked as Deputy Medical Director for NHS England from 2012 to 2013. In August 2013 his appointment as the first Chief Inspector of General Practice was announced by the Care Quality Commission; these duties commenced in October 2014. He was responsible for establishing England's first regulatory system for primary care which included general medical and dental practice, out of hours and the new digital healthcare provision. He also oversaw the CQC's integrated care programme. He was said by the
Health Service Journal to be the fourteenth most powerful person in the English NHS in December 2014. In February 2019 he was appointed Chair of The
Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust – an integrated provider of acute, community and primary care services for the people of Wolverhampton and the wider Black Country. ==Honours==