About Me

Born in Manchester, it was perhaps inevitable that I should follow in my father's footsteps and enter the medical profession. After obtaining my university degree, I completed the compulsory 12 months as a resident "house officer" in a large city centre hospital. It was an unforgettable experience. With a dozen of my contemporaries, I was "thrown in at the deep end". We lived in the doctors "mess", and were on duty for anything up to 100 hours a week. Like squaddies under the charge of a belligerent sergeant major, we survived thanks to a combination of dark humour and bloody minded perseverance! This compulsory year completed, I undertook surgical training then gained 25 years experience as a consultant surgeon.

My desire to influence the effectiveness of clinical practice led me to undertake management training and to become the medical director of an NHS Trust.
When I finally hung up my scalpel, I took a post as a clinical advisor to the Healthcare Commission, reviewing the quality of surgical practice and learning the lessons when things went wrong.

Since retiring I have written a number of novels, two collections of short stories and co-authored a biography with my wife Jane who is also medically qualified. For relaxation I enjoy the 3 G’s; Golf Gardening and Grandchildren, and if I am honest, the occasional Gin and also Grumbling that ‘things are not as they used to be.

I am available to give light-hearted and amusing talks to social groups in the Manchester and Cheshire area