THREE SURGEONS WHO’VE GONE THE EXTRA MILE
‘PERFECT’ GP LOVED BY PATIENTS AND STAFF
A quietly charming and gentle man, Dr Gabriel Hendow has been described as the ‘perfect’ GP. ‘He is amazing to staff and patients —he’s literally a hero in the community,’ one said.
the 72- year- old is the sole doctor for the 2,600 patients at his general practice in a deprived area of east yorkshire, where he has worked for 25 years.
it’s an innovative practice where you might be ‘prescribed’ free cooking and exercise classes, rather than simply more pills, and where all teenagers are offered an annual top-to-toe check-up at a special clinic.
A psychiatric nurse offers talking therapies twice a week — Dr Hendow does not believe in just handing out repeat prescriptions for antidepressants.
the practice also provides the best of the old- school: you can get an appointment on the day if you need one, and Dr Hendow makes home visits, ‘even if there’s no obvious reason, but he’s just worried about someone’, according to one patient.
Dr Hendow trained as a surgeon in iraq, but he and his family fled to the uK in the Seventies.
Despite working as a surgeon here, at 45 he decided to retrain as a GP, against the advice of senior colleagues.
‘ What i really enjoyed was sitting on the end of a patient’s bed talking to them,’ he says.
Dr Hendow, whose practice was rated overall outstanding by the healthcare regulator, the Care quality Commission (CqC), says he strives to be not a general practitioner, but a family doctor. the good news for patients is that he has no immediate plans to retire: ‘i love my work — why would i give up?’
FUNDRAISING SURGEON WITH HUMAN TOUCH
PROFeSSOR Mike Dixon, OBe, is regarded as one of the uK’s leading breast surgeons, with patients referred to him from across the uK and europe.
A consultant at Western General Hospital in edinburgh, Professor Dixon, 63, has written hundreds of academic papers and edited or authored 27 books.
But as well as setting the bar with his clinical skills and cuttingedge research, Professor Dixon is an ‘amazing person; everyone loves him — both staff and patients’, says a breast cancer survivor who nominated him.
‘He makes you feel so good when you’re down and gives wonderful hugs. you feel he cares about you as an individual.’
She was referred to Professor Dixon after undergoing botched surgery elsewhere, and says: ‘He made everything right again — he saved my life.’
Professor Dixon is also an indefatigable fundraiser, raising many thousands of pounds for charity and research by running marathons and doing longdistance cycles with his team, Mike’s Marvels, made up of former patients, their relatives and friends.
‘He’s even used his own money to pay for equipment the hospital couldn’t afford,’ we were told.
Professor Dixon says to his patients that although he’s busy, he is ‘always available’.
He takes a warm and personal interest in them, and admits that when a patient dies, their death ‘haunts’ him — he’s often in a worse state at the funeral than the family.
‘But it’s important you feel that grief, as it is what makes you try so hard to stop it happening again,’ he says.
Before becoming a medical student, Professor Dixon worked as a hospital porter and spent two summers as a nursing auxiliary in order to gain firsthand experience of how a hospital works. the son of a steelworker,
he does no private work. ‘There are greater things in life than money,’ he’s said.
His patients are emphatic: ‘We’re so lucky to have him.’
THE ‘MAGICIAN’ WHO REBUILDS LIVES
SHEHAN HETTIARATCHY — or ‘Mr H’ as his colleagues and patients affectionately call him — is known as ‘ the magician’ because of his plastic surgery skills — his specialism is limb reconstruction and he has also done breakthrough research on limb transplantation.
But for Steve Lockwood, who was badly injured in the Westminster Bridge attack in March, it’s not just his surgical excellence, but the love, passion and pride Mr Hettiaratchy takes in ‘making his patients whole in body and mind’ that really stand out, which is why he decided to nominate him.
‘Mr H would say he’s just doing his job, but he did far more. Not only did he save my life, he rebuilt it.
‘He continues to look after both me and my wife Cara to this day,’ says Steve. ‘Mr H checks on us regularly and will pop in to my appointments with other specialists to see how we’re doing.
‘He also organised counselling for Cara, who’s been badly affected by what she saw.’
The Lockwoods describe a sense of ‘ being loved’ by Mr Hettiaratchy and his team.
‘The goal is not just fixing an arm and a leg, it’s getting people functioning normally as soon as possible,’ explains Mr Hettiaratchy. It can often be a lifelong relationship.
‘The best thing of all is when they stop coming to see me in outpatients because they don’t need me any more,’ he adds. ‘It’s bittersweet, as you’ve formed such a strong bond. But it means I’ve done my job right.’
The son of psychiatrists, Mr Hettiaratchy was brought up with a strong sense of public service: he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps after qualifying, completing two tours of Afghanistan.
He’s also carried out charity work around the world, including in Kosovo, Chechnya and in Haiti a week after the 2010 earthquake, and is closely involved in veterans’ care.
A ‘ hero’ in many senses of the word.