Rest in Peace - Essay 2

This essay is about the people I have worked with and who are no longer with us. 

Internet searches of people I know interest me. I can find no reference to each of my four grandparents other than in census lists when using a family tree website. I have to search very hard to find anything about my parents.

There is an obituary of my mother (Gerda Sloan) in the British Medical Journal written by me in 1990.

There is an announcement of my father’s death in the Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1997. I did not realise he was a member of the college.  I also came across the donation he and my Uncle Sam made in 1940 to support the war effort. Have a look at this: (1)

For the majority of the following deceased colleagues, this might be their first and only mention on the internet. This is my way of preserving my memory of them perhaps for many years.

Ann Long

Ann was a patient and became our first receptionist. She was married to Howard and they had one child, a boy. She was a Maddison from our mining village Fryston. The Maddison family was well known in the village. She was a truly loyal employee. She would do anything for me and Kath. We were on of the first practices to have a computer which cost about £3000 and could just about store on floppy discs 2500 patients’ names and addresses. I also used it for our political work for the SDP. Ann had a chronic relapsing and debilitating disease and had to be hospitalised on several occasions while she was working with us. She input all the names and addresses onto the computer and even did this work at home when she was on the sick. She died in her 30s and this was a tragedy. We all missed her so much.

Joyce Hunt

Joyce was a shorthand typist and our first secretary. She also did reception. She refused to use an electric typewriter and Kath supplied her own mother’s manual one. I used a dictation machine. Joyce used to work for a school before the job with the practice. Her husband, Ken, was a West Riding bus driver. Ken used to walk our dog sometimes. He would also take repeat prescriptions and deliver them to the chemists when he was driving his bus. Dr Dai James came and did a locum working with me. He was the GP whose job I took ove in Cheltenham. Dai and I decided to put on a surprise party for Kath one evening. Joyce was invited and I did the very bad thing and laced some of her drinks. I remember her going to the lavatory on all fours. Joyce was a very hard worker and eventually retired. She and Ken were patients and I looked after them during their illnesses. Joyce came out of retirement to input summaries of patient records onto the computers system. What a progression from using Kath’s mother’s manual typewriter. She died long after\she fully retired and her funeral was a big one.

Anne Holt

Anne was a physiotherapist attached to our practice. She was a deeply religious person. She got amazingly good results. She had a calm and relaxing voice and had a holistic approach. I always felt the combination of these things, including her religion, resulted in her successful treatments. She died in her 40s from a brain haemorrhage. Kath and I found out on our return from a holiday and were so shocked. She also worked for Riverside Medical Centre in Castleford and they put up a very small memorial plaque on a tree in the car park. I wish we had done something like that.

Marjory Robinson

Marjory had been a matron of a maternity home and was one of our health visitors. She was very experienced indeed and taught me a lot. One thing she told me was that in her opinion one should only judge whether one had improved things ever 7 years. She was single and a very private person. We all held her in high regard. She died relatively young from complications of breast cancer.

Ruby Caborn

Ruby was the surgery cleaner for many years. She was a patient. Her husband Terry was a postman. I sat opposite Ruby at one of the Practice Christmas Parties. We were served something very cold and pink. I told her I loved salmon. It was a strawberry sorbet! Kath and I found her one morning in the surgery with a broken leg having fallen off a step ladder. I think she had been on the floor quite a while. We all felt so bad about this. Ruby was salt of the earth and great to have around.

Lilly Fletcher

Lil lived next door to Maureen (see below). Their houses were very close to the surgery. She was the surgery cleaner but not for a long time. He husband, Bill, amused me by the way he always put his flat cap on. He started with it back to front and then rapidly turned it 180 degrees. They had several children. One son, Andrew, was a significant rugby league player and was often in the press. 

Maureen Wood

Maureen died at the age of 88 at the end of July 2014.  Her sister and brother-in-law, Paddy and Ernest Teal, helped Maureen set up the house and surgery for me and Kath to start up the medical practice again in November 1978. Ernest removed walls, put in a new kitchen and the three of them arranged for the house to be decorated and become habitable after my mother had left it 2 years or so previously. Maureen and Paddy helped us move in . I was justifiably castigated by them when they were struggling up our stairs with a chest of drawers with me following carrying a cushion. Maureen’s mother, Hannah McGrath, was my parent’s housekeeper and Maureen ours from 1978 until about 2011. Maureen was the surgery cleaner in the early days.

Maureen has a reserved occupation in the second world war – she lit the coal fire in the patient’s waiting room. Maureen, jointly with our MP, Yvette Cooper, opened our new surgery in 2004. There is a plaque bearing their names.

Madge Charlesworth

Madge was the surgery cleaner for many years. She was a great character and I will show you that she is probably the most famous on the internet of us all. She cleaned twice a day and  started her evening session at 5.30, We did not finish our appointments until 6 pm. She would knock on my door even when I was dealing with a patient and ask me to pass me my waste-paper bin for her to empty. She had a loud voice and after I had called a patient over the loudspeaker system, she might stop him or her in the corridor and ask loudly “What’s tha doing at the doctors, lad?” She was still working for us at the age of 70 and was the leader of a campaign to obtain compensation for women who did not get equal pay with men working in the canteens of National Coal Board Collieries. She was on the TV many times and I always phoned her at home after a broadcast to tell he how good she was. Have a look at these links:

(1)     (2)     (3)     (4)     (5)

Madge told us about her trip the House of Commons. On her arrival she spotted David Dimbleby interviewing someone. She approached him and said “Is thy David Dimbleby”. He replied “Do I know you?” She retorted “No, but tha soon will”.

Kath led us though Investor in People and the assessment for this was tough. The assessor came with her supervisor and Madge was first in. The door close behind her and she was head to say in her loud voice “Right, I will tell thee about this place”. We were granted the award and at the feedback session were told how good and loyal Madge was.

Janine Heptinstall

Janine did not work in the surgery but worked with me at the Primary Care Trust. I managed the General Practitioner Appraisal Scheme. Janine was one of the people who did the administrative work for with with me. She got quite upset when GP appraisers were being paid a lot of money and were submitting poor quality reports. This resulted in my stopping two GPs undertaking this work. She was a delight to work with. It was a total and utter shock when she died suddenly at the age of 34. Have a look at this Youtube video her sister made.   Video 

Kathleen Sloan

My dear wife died on 25th February 2015. Kath was the practice manager from the start in 1978 and was not allowed by the NHS to be paid. She, with me, built up the practice from scratch. She had a great relationship with the staff and this continued after her retirement in 2000. She steered us successfully through the Kings Fund Organisational Audit and the Investor in People award.