At the start of the interview, Brendan Devlin, pioneer of surgical audit, discusses his childhood and schooling in Ireland and Lancashire, his medical studies at Trinity College, Dublin, where he qualified after 1957. He speaks of the influence of characters such as EA Erskine and Frederick Gill, and his burgeoning interest in surgery. Early general surgery posts in Dublin and Burnley, Lancashire were followed by a year studying for the MCH in Liverpool. He then tells of his nine years at St Thomas' Hospital from 1961 as a registrar and MRC Fellow in the general surgical unit, then as a senior registrar and lecturer. He developed an interest in gastrointestinal surgery and the outcome of surgery that was to be so important in his later career. Next he reflects on his decision to become a NHS consultant rather than stay in academic medicine, and his consequent move to the new Northern Region gastrointestinal unit in Stockton-on-Tees in 1970. After a difficult start with limited staff and resources, he was able to build up a large and thriving department in the North Tees General Hospital, which he helped to commission in 1974. He discusses his main research during his time there, on gastrointestinal surgery and the management and social costs of colostomies and ileostomies, hernias, and the clinical and financial outcomes of day-case surgery. The discussion then moves onto his role on various committees, including the editorial board of the British Journal of Surgery, the councils of the Association of Surgeons and the College of Surgeons, and the controversial King's Fund Commission on the Future of Acute Services for London. At the end of part one, he talks about how he sees surgery developing in the future, and his wife and children.
Trinity College, Dublin; Frederick Gill; St Thomas' Hospital; gastrointestinal surgery and its social costs; North Tees General Hospital; British Journal of Surgery, Kings' Fund Commission on the Future of Acute Services for London, CEPOD, NCEPOD
Epidemiology, General surgery,
vid-062, MSVA_158
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/000103
Devlin, BrendanAshley-Miller, Michael
Learning Resources
Original artefact: 1997 RADAR resource: 2017
Oxford, UK
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