Dr Anita Bloor

Anita’s journey

I came to NGHS in 1975 on a full bursary – I was a Clifton Estate lass and initially over awed by the school, but was soon embraced, especially my year group. We are still a strong group of women, 20 or so of us still keep in touch and meet up at least every 5 years, some travelling from distant continents.

When I was awarded a scholarship to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford to read medicine it was a steep learning curve, but incredibly inspiring.

In 1990 I qualified as a GP and continued as a GP partner, first in Leicester then Nottingham, until 2017. But medicine opens so many doors that it is possible to follow many career pathways in addition to the obvious clinical roles. Mine have included medical student training, GP training, heading up primary care mental health services in a city, as well as working in a governance role to investigate complaints, underperformance, GP appraisals, coroner inquests and prisoner deaths. I have been involved in the development and delivery of urgent GP services in Nottingham for 16 years, latterly as the Medical Director of the Nottinghamshire Out of Hours Service (NEMS) looking after the urgent medical needs of over 1.75 million people.

For over three years I had the privilege of being an NGHS Governor. My passion and primary focus in this role was promoting outreach, to ensure pupils from under represented backgrounds were put forward for bursaries. This is important as we wanted them to be able to experience the fantastic opportunities that Nottingham Girls’ High School has to offer, and reach for the stars as confident and happy women.

To succeed, the main ingredients are a passion for what you do and confidence – some may say tenacity – in one’s ability to be heard.