M AT T H E W C R I P P S ( S H 7 2 - 7 7 ) GENERAL PRACTICE
Following stints of wanting to be a steam engine driver and then a bishop, aged 10 I eventually decided I was dead set on becoming a GP. I never wanted to be generically “a doctor” or a hospital doctor but always thought in terms of general practice and that stuck with me throughout my career. I think it was the width and variety of the job and a fascination with people. My Grandmother started at medical school after WW1 but did not complete the course for financial reasons. Her Grandfather had been an unqualified “doctor” as you could be prior to the 1858 Medical Act. For several years at school and at medical school I was on the Biomedical Sciences Section Committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and was thoroughly humbled to discover how fellow committee member and OT Norman Heatley was responsible for the development of penicillin. I did my pre-clinical at UCL and clinical at Westminster Medical School (now Imperial) from 1978 to 1983. I had taken four years over my A levels (possible as I was 14 for my O levels) and astonished myself by not failing a single exam at medical school – perhaps due to the power of motivation. In 1988 I was appointed to a singlehanded rural Dorset practice and ended up leading
a nine doctor practice including trainees. I started with a pile of paper notes and about 1000 dusty tongue depressors and ended with premises that a visiting junior minister of health described as a polyclinic. We had PRHO’s, foundation doctors, registrars, returners and remedial trainees. A great joy of general practice then was that it could be very flexible and allow one to develop other linked interests and practical procedures. Roles outside the practice included Clinical Governance Lead, Prescribing Lead, Appraisal Lead (& appraiser in Dorset and Jersey). Latterly as Chair of the county prescribing committee I managed a budget of £111 million but could never persuade anyone that the (typically) 3% annual savings should be invested in my bank account. We had medical students for many years, usually final year and many stayed with us for their placements. Formally I was a UCL undergraduate clinical tutor. During postgraduate training, I gained numerous diplomas and membership of RCGP and then FRCGP By Assessment in 1996. This was the only higher qualification by peer assessment of a doctor’s actual practice. My role models include Julian Tudor Hart for trailblazing general practice research and unequivocal views on inequality and
health, Peter Tate for his many editions of The Doctor’s Communication Handbook (which should be compulsory for all medical students), my longsuffering wife Joanna, also a GP in our practice, for being my inspiration and encourager. Joanna had been at Wally Hall, Benenden and Epsom College and seemed to know everyone I can remember from Smythe but we met at a training job interview… I thoroughly enjoyed my career and can look back on it with some pride (“killed a few, probably saved a few more”) and would recommend general practice and medicine generally to applicants. However, I am not sure that I would recommend medicine in the NHS currently. I am delighted to be out of it and am not sure how long it will take to restore. I retired at 54 and happily moved on from medicine – I am now enjoying diving (divemaster), skiing, travelling, gardening, art, music and stalking and deer management. Memorable Tonbridge moment: Sitting in the leather armchairs upstairs in Waterstones in Bath reading T.S.Eliot poetry prior to purchase & recalling Geoff Allibone’s page in my final school report: “T.S.Eliot proved rather beyond his intellectual capacity”.
JOHN MEW (SH 42-46) ORTHOTROPICS
My father so obviously enjoyed dentistry that I always looked forward to joining him, even before I went to Tonbridge. I initially trained to be an orthognathic surgeon and then switched to orthodontics.
My greatest achievement as an orthodontist was creating a new specialty; Orthotropics. This is a process for correcting poor growth of the face, which I am sure will be broadly accepted one day.
My advice to aspiring medics is to look for contradictions and find a reason that explains them. Working in medicine has taught me that there is a reason for everything.