Former Northern Ireland GP of the year County Tyrone's Dr Gerry Millar, pictured here during the first autopsy of an Egyptian mummy performed in the UK since 1975, received the MBE for services to healthcare in Northern Ireland.

He was Northern Ireland's first Macmillan facilitator in cancer and palliative care and was involved in setting up the palliative care infrastructure in the country. He works promoting community palliative care with GPs and district nurses and also early cancer diagnosis initiatives with the Southern Trust. Current projects include depression in cancer patients and carers and the early diagnosis of mouth cancer. Another project is the rehabilitation of the Liverpool Care Pathway in Northern Ireland.

The father of three daughters and a son has been in practice in Moy with his wife, Dr Bernadette Mulvenna, for 20 years.

Dr Millar described the honour as recognition for his health centre team and equivalent within Southern Trust cancer services in the face of huge pressures on delivery of care in the NHS.

He said: 'The goal of our palliative care efforts is to improve the quality of life, by increasing comfort, promoting dignity and providing a support system to the person who is ill and those close to them.

'I am always deeply impressed by the quiet courage of all the cancer patients I have met over the years. I feel a great responsibility not to let them and their families face this trial alone.'

Conwy GP Dr David Wood also received the MBE for services to education and training in general practice and to the community.

Former GP Professor Jacky Hayden, now dean of postgraduate medical studies at the North Western Deanery, received a CBE.

She trained in Oxford and started her career in general practice in Bury, Lancashire, in 1979, where she worked until recently.

The mother-of-two said: 'I'm absolutely thrilled as you might imagine. I'm so pleased because it's a real tribute to the work the North Western Deanery does.'

The former chairwoman of the English Deans Committee bid unsuccessfully to become RCGP president last year.

The GPs were two of 535 MBE recipients. A total of 1,223 people were recommended to the Queen for an award in the list. Women made up 47% of the list.