I’m delighted to have been selected as the Labour candidate in Broadland for the general election in May 2015.

I’ve never worked in politics – for 30 years I have been an NHS doctor, but I’m increasingly frustrated by the difficulties of providing care to the people who need it. For some politicians the NHS is used as a political football, but for me defending the NHS and our public services is just the natural progression of working to protect the weak and vulnerable in our society. Its principles define both my professional life and my politics.

Working in mental health means that every day I meet and talk to people from all backgrounds, hearing about their lives at first-hand. I can see the problems that they’re facing – cuts to services, poor housing, lack of opportunities for them and their family - and I want to do something about it.

As well as working as a consultant psychiatrist I’m an honorary Senior lecturer at the UEA, where I finished a doctorate in medical ethics in 2011. I’ve lived in Broadland since 2001 with my wife, three dogs, some chickens and a hive of bees.