End of the PCT

I went to the farewell coffee and cake meeting at the NHS Wakefield PCT this morning. What a sad affair. It was the last day of its existence and the last day of Gill Galdins working there. She was responsible for my getting me job there as education advisor and appraisal lead and for 7 years of happy working for me. All the best, Gill.

Recent Italy visit

We had a cold weather experience in March in Umbria with our friend Gill, who was with us for the third year running. However warmth was created by our meeting Johnny and Janelle Apodaca and joining them in a few glasses of red wine first in our house and then Aldo's bar in Panicale. I am planning to sell Johnny's easel for a huge amount of money.

Feeding the ducks at the beautiful Fonti del Clituno

Birds

This sparrow hawk sat on our fence yesterday. Later in the morning I heard an owl and a woodpecker. Loads of interesting birds here.

The Hepworth Surgical Drawings

Yesterday a gang of retired GPs and a retired surgeon friend were given a guided tour of the Hepworth Surgical Drawings in the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. It was fabulous. There was a drawing of an orthopaedic surgeon who taught us at The London Hospital. Sir Reginald Watson-Jones - orthopaedic surgeon to the Queen. He had a maroon Rolls with his chauffeur in a matching maroon uniform. He once gave a lecture on amputation. Whilst brandishing a huge knife, he accidentally cut his leg and had to be taken to casualty.
Here is an interesting link:

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)61975-8/fulltext

The English Doctor: a medical journey

A couple of months ago I had my book published by Xlibris. Below is the introduction:

The intention of this book is to capture the essence of medical research and medical practice during the second half of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first. I have focussed on what happens behind the scenes as a student, house officer, undergraduate lecturer, research worker, GP, postgraduate educator, and NHS manager. I am sure the average UK patient, and indeed many health-care workers, including doctors, has no idea of what went on behind the scenes. Those doctors who were GP trainees in Yorkshire as well as those who were developed as trainers were so lucky to have some of the most interesting and skilled teachers in the UK.

This book is about my experiences, views, and the colleagues who have contributed to the direction of my medical journey. After the first chapter about my early life, I have purposely not written much about my personal life as the book is not intended to be an autobiography in the purest sense. I have included anecdotes and mentioned many people. This is because I do not want this book to be a text book. I apologise to those whom I have omitted to mention and who have contributed to my journey. I also apologise for not explaining fully some of the medical terminology used.

The British Medical Association has published guidelines for the medical profession when writing about patients. Written consent has been obtained for any named patients and an attempt has been made to anonymise the cases that have been described.

I am grateful to Dr Liz Moulton for feeding back to me on the final manuscript and advising me about any possible breaches of confidentiality and any other ethical matters.

Soon after I started writing, Dr Maggie Eisner and Prof. John Lord kindly read the first draft of Chapter 2 and gave me useful feedback.

I am most grateful to my wife, Kathleen, who gave me feedback after each chapter.

My godson, Nick Earls, a successful novelist in Australia, gave me valuable advice on a chapter in the very early stages of writing this book.

My good friend and colleague Grahame Smith gave me useful feedback on the chapter that covered our time together as preclinical medical students, Chapter 2.

Brian Lewis, an artist and writer, gave me valuable advice about publishing.

The last chapter involved talking to many people about their work. They gave up their valuable time freely, and I am most grateful for that.

Prof. Christopher Dean, professor of Anatomy at University College, London, kindly showed me around his department in March 2012 and introduced me to Daniel Wornham, a third-year iB.Sc. student. I am grateful to Daniel for informing me about the preclinical and B.Sc. courses as they were in 2012.

I am grateful to the dean of research at the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Prof. Thomas MacDonald, for meeting me. He showed me the state-of-the-art research facilities and explained the situation with Ph.D. students and academic teaching. Prof. Mike Roberts, dean for students, arranged for me to meet three junior doctors working at The Royal London Hospital.

Drs Emile Khan, Natasha Atchamah, and Viyaasan Mahalingasivan told me about clinical medical students and work as foundation year-one doctors.

Thanks to Carol Ward (practice administrator Roehampton Surgery) and Sue Careswell (Leckhampton Surgery, Cheltenham) for talking to me on the telephone and telling me how these practice have developed since I worked there.

I am grateful to Anthony Nicholas (events manager), Linda Reynolds (quality outcome framework lead), Karen Tooley (performance improvement manager), Monica Smith (partner, Tieve Tara Medical Centre), Alison Evans (Wakefield District appraisal lead, NHS Calderdale, Kirklees, and Wakefield District), Adrian Dunbar (associate postgraduate dean, Yorkshire and the Humber Deanery), and David Brown (programme director, West Riding General Practice Specialty Training Programme) for meeting me in 2012 and informing me about their areas of work.

Thanks to the following at Xlibris who have supported me with the writing and publication of this book: Sophia Blake, publishing consultant, Naomi Orleans, author services representative, Chris Lovedice, author consultant and James Calonia, manuscript series representative.

The royalties from this book will be donated to charity.

The two charities I have chosen are:

Children of Peace is a UK based charity that works with both Israeli and  Palestinian children to build relationships for a future generation whose communities might live and work in peace, side by side. It is supported by all three UK mainstream political leaders as well as other worldwide leaders. For more details look at www.childrenof peace.org.uk

CAFOD is the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development. My wife, Kathleen, works for the Leeds office in a voluntary capacity each week. It works with partners across the world to bring hope, compassion and solidarity to poor communities to end poverty and injustice. For more details look at www.cafod.org.uk

Follow the link below to see the coverage in our local newspaper. 

Local newspaper

I have had positive reports from friends and relations.

It can be downloaded to a kindle and bought from various booksellers including Amazon.

Sloan Place

This photo of me and Kath was taken by Mike Dixon and is part of a calender made by my niece Mary Sloan.

Last year Wakefield District Housing named a street after our family. It is very close to where Kath and I live. In the photo is Mark Traffod, our area manager of WDH. I have known and worked with him for many years. He is leaving soon and will be sorely missed by those of us on the Airedale Neighbourhood Management Board (a voluntary group working to improve all aspects of the area). He has been a great supporter of the work of the board.

Kath and I went to the opening in November 2011. Have a look at this write up:

http://www.wdh.co.uk/news/newsItem.aspx?NewsItemID=1924

The opening ceremony guest was Paul Hudson, the weather man from BBC Look North. He spoke first and then me. In the middle of my speech a schoolgirl fainted and I had to stop while she was taken outside. There was a competent nurse dealing with her so I had no medical input. When I continued what I was saying, Paul Hudson said she fainted because I was boring. I told him later that fainting due to boredom was a delayed action.

Fairburn Ings 27th December 2011

A bank holiday and mild and sunny weather. We went to our local bird reserve, Fairburn Ings, in the afternoon. It was packed with people and there were more birds that we have ever see. It was teaming with birds. We saw robins, sparrows, green and gold finches, ducks coots. We saw a woodpecker and a jay. There is a relatively new kingfisher viewing area. Kath saw one. I missed it as it flew off. What a great facility to have near where we live.