HISTORY will remember Professor Kiran Patel as the person who prescribed the world’s first Covid vaccine. Speaking to the GG2 Power List, Patel revealed that the opportunity arose from his response to the pandemic, which went “against the grain of the national response”.
As chief medical officer at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, Patel made the pivotal decision to continue elective care during the pandemic.
“That was one of the major decisions I made because more people die as a result of not getting treated for their heart attacks, strokes, and hip operations, than from the pandemic itself,” he said.
“I quietly went against the grain of what we were being told to do nationally and kept getting more people their operations and clinic appointments, which meant that we came out of the pandemic in Coventry with a smaller waiting list than most people, but also better health outcomes for all of our patients.”
Patel believes his team’s calm approach during the crisis led to them administering the first vaccine.
“We showed really good leadership in Coventry. We had Panorama come in and film us, and they said, ‘we expected to come in and for it to be like a war zone’,” he recalled.
“People were seeing images from around the world and elsewhere in the NHS, and it looked like a war zone. Whereas I led the organisation and said, ‘we are just going to be calm. We're going to do the best we can, and we're going to treat everybody with dignity and respect’.”
He also adopted a compassionate approach to visiting policies. “I took the approach of saying, ‘if somebody is dying, then it should be the choice of their loved one, whether they want to put themselves at risk or not’.”
Patel’s openness extended to the media. “I let the world's media in to come and see what we were doing. We were a good shop window for the NHS, and I guess that got recognised, which is why we ended up with the world's first vaccine.”
A quiet and humble man, Patel acknowledges the significance of his achievement.
“For Asians as a whole, we contribute so much to the healthcare in this country. Wasn't it a proud moment for an Asian to prescribe the world's first COVID vaccine?,” he said.
“I guess that probably never got the limelight it deserved, probably because I didn't want to make a big deal of it, but in hindsight, it was great.”
In March 2024, Patel joined University Hospital Birmingham (UHB) as chief medical officer and consultant cardiologist, following reports of a “toxic culture” at the trust, where over half of staff felt bullied or harassed. Inspectors had found issues of bullying, racism, sexism, and a knock-on impact on patient care.
Leaving Coventry, where he was “extremely happy”, was not an easy decision.
“I thought very long and hard – the easiest decision was to say no and be comfortable where I was. But the hard decision was to say I don't think there are many people who'd be up for doing this and be credible enough to do it and have the experience to do it,” he explained.
“There are many issues to resolve, but I didn't see this as just a negative exercise to say, let's address the problems. I want to turn it into a positive exercise to say, let's put UHB, the second biggest Trust in the NHS, on the map and make it a Trust that people can be proud to work here.”
Patel has already made a significant impact at UHB.
Over half of the trust’s medical workforce are international medical graduates, and he revealed that he has “opened the bonnet on whether there is discrimination” in the international programmes because he is aware that there are doctors who are paid much less than their peers for doing the same job with there being a “perception that they may even be exploited”.
“There are people who have led those programmes over the last ten years that don't want to hear that so it will create some noise, but I've got the backing of the board to do the right thing,” he said.
Patel has also addressed past perceptions of bias in how medics were treated, particularly regarding race or personal connections to senior leaders. Within six months of his arrival, he implemented a new “fair, transparent, and consistent” structure for regulating and disciplining medical professionals.
“We've just done a first six-month audit of the new process, which I’ve discussed with the General Medical Council, and it shows that there’s no discrimination,” he said.
Additionally, Patel has established a team – consisting of a GP, a public health consultant, and a consultant – to tackle health inequalities. “This never existed before. This team will help develop a health inequality strategy for the board,” he added.
While Patel stresses that the majority of UHB staff are “brilliant”, he admits to facing resistance from some who have been “comfortable for too long and have not had to answer questions that are now being asked”.
“I don't expect to be popular all the time, but I'm here to do the right thing for our staff, our patients, and our population,” he said. I’m not restricting myself to Birmingham either because we provide services across the country, and patients also come here from across the country, so we need to do the right thing for them.”
Last year, Patel also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the South Asian Health Foundation, which he founded in 1999 as a junior doctor in Bristol.
The foundation has since influenced NICE and the Department of Health, focusing initially on coronary artery disease in the south Asian community and playing a key role during the pandemic. They host an annual conference where healthcare professionals discuss health inequalities and how to provide better treatment to south Asians.
“Last year we had people from across the world come and talk to us about south Asians in Canada, America, India, because we've now got a global community. I'm really proud that our charity has a global reach. It’s a small charity but punches well above its weight,” Patel said.
In his spare time, Patel enjoys reading, supporting West Bromwich Albion, and running.
“I do a 10k run every Saturday morning, without fail. If you're physically healthy, you're mentally healthy. I want to stay physically healthy for myself and to be a role model as well.”
