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Tickling your funny bone By day Dr Phil Hammond is a GP listening to people’s ills and treating them – but by night he’s a stand-up comedian and campaigning journalist. The Somerset based doctor talks to Mick Ringham about why he takes his humour seriously and picks his top ten favourite tunes
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hen did you last see your doctor? For some lucky people it may be just a distant memory. However, you would indeed be missing out on a visit to one particular GP who also enjoys the reputation as being one of the country’s most unusual broadcasters and comedians. Phil Hammond was brought up in Australia but has lived most of his life in the south west, the last 17 years in the Chew Valley with his wife Jo (also a GP) and their children Will and Ellie. He qualified as a doctor in 1991 and currently works in a specialist NHS centre in Bath as well being a presenter for BBC Radio Bristol on Saturday 20 THEBATHMAGAZINE
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NOVEMBER 2013
mornings. But when he’s not making people better, Phil’s making them laugh. Over the past 20 years Phil has regularly appeared on television and radio shows including The News Quiz, Have I Got News for You and The Now Show. Through his column in Private Eye he has campaigned for more transparency and honesty in the NHS. As part of this crusade he broke the story of the Bristol heart scandal in the 1990s and gave evidence to a public inquiry – and this is perhaps why he has been named as one of the top 100 clinical leaders in the NHS for for his campaigns to support patients and whistleblowers in the health service.