Kathy Oxtoby News Today

Consultant gastroenterologist Rajaratnam Mathialagan talks to Kathy Oxtoby about tackling his patients’ concerns and sharing his skills with trainees “Around 75% of medicine is about reassurance,” says Rajaratnam Mathialagan, a consultant physician and gastroenterologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust in Norfolk. “Practising as a gastroenterologist for the past 25 years, I’ve found that most patients seeking medical help are worried and anxious—and...

GP Rodger Charlton talks to Kathy Oxtoby about the excitement and unpredictability of being a qualified cricket umpire Rodger Charlton is known as the “Spin Doctor” by members of his local village cricket team in recognition of his skills as a leg spin bowler on the pitch. Even when he’s not playing the game or chairing his local cricket club, he keeps his eyes fixed firmly on the ball as a qualified cricket umpire. Umpiring has given him time out of clinical practice and a chance to do so...

Consultant neonatologist Regina Nalliannan tells Kathy Oxtoby that hers is a specialty where there are miracles every day “Many of the babies in my care are born prematurely. It never ceases to amaze me how babies are so fragile, yet so resilient. They can go through so much, and sometimes it seems they won’t come through. And then many do—which is a powerful and humbling experience.” Nalliannan, who works in the department of neonatal medicine at Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton, say...

Kieron Cooney talks to Kathy Oxtoby about the rejuvenating power of playing the bagpipes in a Celtic rock band As the music of his bagpipes resounds through the excited crowd, GP Kieron Cooney looks at the sea of smiling faces and clapping hands and feels elated. And that joy stays with him long after he leaves the stage and returns to his GP practice. Cooney is a senior GP partner at St Helen’s Medical Centre on the Isle of Wight, where he has worked for 35 years. He says his role as leader o...

A GP partner tells Kathy Oxtoby how his love of the natural world helped drive a “nature prescriptions” scheme for patients Tom Miller loves his commute to the Buxton Medical Practice in Derbyshire. “I travel 11 miles from my home to the surgery on mainly small country roads, past a 1200 foot climb, fields, drystone walls, sheep, and the odd cow. It’s a stunning drive, and the gold light shining on the green is gorgeous,” he says. The GP partner’s appreciation of nature, with all its...

General practitioner Mat Owen-Veale talks to Kathy Oxtoby about his love of amateur dramatics and the therapeutic value of being on stage Mat Owen-Veale has found a way of escaping from being a decision laden GP—he becomes a different person. It’s a character transformation that has happened many times over the years. A low ranking cook in the trenches during the first world war, the son of a powerful Victorian mill owner, and a cricket playing lothario are just some of the roles he has perf...

Consultant anaesthetist Robert Loveridge talks to Kathy Oxtoby about the escapism and creativity of woodworking and the items he treasures A handcrafted cocktail cabinet takes pride of place in consultant anaesthetist Robert Loveridge’s front room—the perfect fusion of wood and his work. “I made it from a mid-twentieth century anaesthetic machine, and built a wooden cabinet underneath,” says Loveridge, who works at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust. It’s his favourite piece so far, embody...

Mark Barber talks to Kathy Oxtoby about the variety in stroke medicine and teaching “the old fashioned way” Geriatrician and stroke physician Mark Barber is passionate about helping patients who have had a stroke. Describing the sudden and potentially devastating impact of stroke, he reflects on how a patient can go from being well to very unwell in a matter of minutes. “Lots of other conditions build up over months, even years, and patients may have time to come to terms with what’s ha...

Consultant neurologist Bridget MacDonald talks to Kathy Oxtoby about how she incorporates sociology and anthropology into her medical practice Bridget MacDonald enjoys demystifying neurology for the patients she cares for and the doctors she trains. “I love being able to explain things in a way that people understand and that diffuses their anxieties,” she says. As a consultant neurologist with a special interest in epilepsy at Croydon University Hospital and St George’s Hospital in London...

Clinical research fellow and emergency medicine trainee Charlotte Lindsay talks to Kathy Oxtoby about her love of making pottery For Charlotte Lindsay, making beautiful pottery is not about perfection. In fact, it’s the imperfect pots she creates that she prefers to keep. “It’s the nice stuff I make that people want to buy or that I give as gifts. It’s the weird rejects, the things that don’t quite work, that I like to keep,” says Lindsay, a clinical research fellow at Queen Mary Uni...