1st Edition
Just a GP Diaries from a Career in General Practice
‘With General Practice currently facing existential challenges, it is truly inspirational to be reminded what determined individuals, with a clear set of intensely human values, can achieve … This is the story of an extraordinary career during a profoundly important phase in the history of British medicine – someone who was justifiably proud to be “just a GP”.’
Sir David Haslam CBE FRCGP
Past President and Chairman of Council, Royal College of General Practitioners
Past President, British Medical Association
Past Chair, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
This autobiography from Sir Denis Pereira Gray offers a unique insight into the life and career of a hugely distinguished and influential general practitioner, from what led him to study medicine, learning his craft in the 1960s, through years of clinical practice and research to senior leadership roles within and outside the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Through detailed diaries enlivened by wonderful anecdotes, both personal and professional, Sir Denis shares candidly with the reader a lifetime of experience gained and lessons learned, highly applicable today when general practice is facing many challenges and detractors.
Both informative and inspirational, Just a GP is an essential read for many who have journeyed through the profession with Sir Denis and those who are in the midst of or contemplating a career in general practice today.
Section 1
1. Early years
2. Chess
3. Medical Student
4. Junior doctor
Section 2
5. Practice 1962 -1975
6. Learning the craft
7. South West England Faculty
8. BMA/LMC
Section 3
9. Journal
10. Exeter RCGP Publishing
11. College cabinet
12. Lane Committee
Section 4
13. Department/Institute of General Practice
14. Regional Adviser
15. South West General Practice Trust
Section 5
16. Practice 1976-1986
17. The Medical Annual
18. Publications Committee
19. Communications Division
20. Experiences in the Executive
21. Consultant Adviser
22. Downs and Ups of Institutional Life
Section 6
23. Chairman of Council
24. Fellowship by Assessment
25. Conference of Academic Organizations
26. Prison Medicine
27. Postgraduate Medical School
Section 7
28. Research Division
29. JCPTGP
30. Dentistry
31. GMC and GDC
32. Fetzer Institute
33. Non-executor directorships
34. Practice 1987-2000
Section 8
35. PRCGP
36. Vice-Chairman Academy
37. Three national meetings
38. Chairman Academy
39. Distinction awards
Section 9
40. Patient Participation
41. PIAG/EEC
42. Heritage Committee
43. What About the Children?
44. Nuffield Trust
45. DH and BMA
Section 10
46. Unfinished campaign
47. Last Hurrah
48. The Practice as a Learning Environment
49. St Leonard’s Research Practice
50. Reflections
Appendices
1. Awards received
2. Eponymous or equivalent lectures
3. Publications by DPG’s personal trainees
4. Medical Annuals
5. RCGP Exeter publications
6. Books/booklets written in the Exeter Department/Institute of General Practice
7. Awards to staff in the St Leonard’s Practice
8. Syllabus for General Practice
9. Chairmanships in RCGP
10. Visitors to the Practice
11. People met
12. Glossary
References
Index
Biography
Sir Denis Pereira Gray worked as a general practitioner for 38 years in the St Leonard’s Medical Practice Exeter, following his father and grandfather. He was President of the Cambridge University Chess Club and has been awarded the gold medal of the Hunterian Society, London, the gold medal of the Royal Institute of Public Health, and honorary doctorates by three British universities. He established the first postgraduate university department of general practice in Europe at the University of Exeter and was later appointed Professor and Director of the Exeter University Postgraduate Medical School, serving for ten years. He was twice elected by the registered medical practitioners in England to the General Medical Council. He has written/edited nine books and has had over 200 articles published in scientific medical journals. Sir Denis has been a member of several Government Committees including the Review of the Abortion Act. He was elected Chairman of Council and later President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Chairman of the JCPTGP, a medical regulatory body, and was Chairman of the Trustees of the Nuffield Trust, a national health policy charity. He was knighted for services to quality assurance in general practice. Sir Denis was Vice-Chairman and then Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges of Britain and Ireland, the first GP ever elected. He is one of 35 British doctors who have been elected to the , of the National Academy of Medicine, Washington, USA. He is currently doing research at the St Leonard’s Research Practice, Exeter, is an Assessor for the Queen’s Award for Higher and Further Education and Patron of the National Association for Patient Participation.
