SOUTHBOURNE SURGERY
A brief history from 1948 until the present time…..
Dr Roy Dinley was born in Australia where he qualified as a doctor. To become a surgeon it was the common practice to have further training in the United Kingdom.
He came here in 1936 and gained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1939 he enlisted with the British Army and was posted to India. He was demobbed in 1945 returning to England and became a single handed general practitioner. At the inception of the NHS in 1948, the surgery was first located at 40 Holdenhurst Avenue then in 1950 moved to 102 Southbourne Road (where it served the local population until it moved once more in 1995). On paper, at least, surgery consulting hours looked short (9-10am, 2-4pm, 6-7pm) but there were far more home visits, own on-call, cover for the busy maternity unit in Tuckton (near Homefield School) and just one weeks holiday a year. Tragically, Dr Dinley died quite suddenly in June 1958 having just finished evening surgery.
The Local Medical Executive appointed a retired GP from Birmingham, Dr Brian Wood as a locum to run the single handed practice until Dr David Pugh took over in 1959.
Dr John Millward who trained at Oxford then St. Bartholomews joined the practice in 1962. Dr Roy Dinley’s son, John Dinley who trained at Westminster, was asked to join the practice from 1967 to 1970 until he left to complete his Surgical Fellowship and eventually became an orthopaedic surgeon in Bournemouth and Poole.
In March 1970 Dr Mike Penn MRCOG, who trained at St. Mary’s, joined the practice. His background was as an obstetrician and gynaecologist and was registrar to Mr Sydney Lubert at the (old) Royal Victoria Hospital in Boscombe. It was around this time that the Government had passed new legislation encouraging single handed practices to expand to a minimum of three partners.
Dr Peter Perkins who trained at Westminster and had been working as senior house officer to Mr Lubert, joined the practice in 1979 taking over from Dr Pugh who had retired two years previously due to ill health. In 1984 he became a GP Trainer and our very first GP Trainee, Dr Graeme Horton, joined the practice for twelve months. Then in August 1985 Dr Carol John became our second trainee and first female doctor to work at the practice.
The partnership was still three GPs: Drs Millward, Penn and Perkins but the list size had increased and another trainee, Dr Simon Pennell (trained at Southampton and married to Dr Carol John) in February 1989 became the fourth partner.
After 33 years at the practice, John Millward retired in 1995 leaving to pursue his interest in homeopathy, preventative medicine and the diagnosis and management of allergic conditions. Another trainee Dr Daniel Jeyatheva (trained at Middlesex) replaced him as a partner.
Meanwhile, with a growing list size and the introduction of computers we had long since outgrown the converted ground floor premises at 102 Southbourne Road and on 6th February 1995 the Mayor of Bournemouth, Councillor Dr John Millward (and former partner) formally declared the new purpose built Southbourne Surgery (at 17 Beaufort Road) officially open.
While Dr Simon Pennell was taking a sabbatical leave studying the community management of cystic fibrosis, Dr Jackie Head (trained at Charing Cross and Westminster) worked as a locum at the practice then in 1999 became the first female partner coinciding with Mike Penn reducing his hours to half time.
Dr Sally Lewis (trained at Cardiff) was a registrar at the surgery and became a partner in 2001 when Mike Penn retired. In December 2005 Sally moved to Herefordshire to become a partner and GP trainer in a practice there creating a vacancy at Southbourne. Dr Jane Caballero (trained at Southampton) was our registrar and became a partner in January 2006.
Dr Rachel King worked as a maternity locum at the surgery in 2009 and from January 2010 joined the practice as a GP Retainer post.
Finally, we should not forget Dr Katina Kozomos who was registrar at the surgery from 2000 to 2001, GP Retainer from 2003 to 2006 and worked one session a week for many years.
Dr Emily Abbott (trained at Nottingham University Medical School) and was a registrar at the practice became an associate partner in June 2009. She married to become Dr Emily Gall and in September 2011 became a Full Partner. In September 2012 she will take over from Dr Peter Perkins as GP Trainer at the practice.
She replaced Dr Simon Pennell, who, after 22 years at the practice left to pursue his interest in Palliative Care Medicine and became the Doctor in charge of the new Lewis Manning Hospice in Poole.
Dr Aurelia Butcher, who was our registrar from 2010 to 2011, on completing her training joined the practice as an Associate Partner combining this with her other interest in GP training, teaching and further studies in academic general practice.
It may be of interest to see the number of doctors who have trained and worked at Southbourne Surgery since our first trainee in 1984. Also the countless medical students who have spent part of their training attached to the practice.