My colleague Dr Hugh Dawson, who has died aged 63, was a partner at Lensfield medical practice, Cambridge, from 1985 to 2014, and loved his patients. Hugh’s compassion shone through his consultations, and was witnessed by trainees and patients alike. He would have said that his qualities as a healer grew as much out of his Christian faith as they did from his nearly 40 years as a doctor. Alongside that, he was a deeply intelligent clinician who met each challenge with logic and patience.
He was born in Nottingham, one of four children of Margaret, a former radiographer, and Ian, a pathologist, and studied medicine at University College London and Westminster hospital, before beginning his career as a haematologist at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge.
A modest man, Hugh would have cited the influence of others for any success in his life. From his father, he learned to be inspired by, and committed to, his patients; from his first mentor, a general surgeon in his first house job, he learned the value of saying nothing until the patient had finished talking; from Mary Anderson, the senior partner at Lensfield when he arrived there in 1985, he learned the value of kindness. In my role as practice counsellor, I found he was highly attuned to the importance of the doctor-patient relationship, something he had refined early on in a Balint group (a psychoanalytic case discussion group for doctors).
When Hugh became a GP mentor himself, he compiled a list of some 40 suggestions for new registrars. In essence, he wanted them to know: “The patient is not the enemy. Be kind to your patients, get alongside them and they’ll repay you a thousand times. Be prepared: before every surgery read through all the patient notes, letters, results – especially important when you don’t recognise the patient. And do not interrupt the patient. Very often they will say something that is very relevant that you would never have got by interrupting or asking a direct question.”
After his diagnosis of prostate cancer, metastasised to his bones, Hugh retired. This did not stop him attending an A-level Latin class, baking cakes for the staff at the surgery, visiting elderly patients he knew were living alone, cycling and painting. He was funny, gentle and generous.
He is survived by his wife, Catherine, whom he married in 1988, and their children, William and Eleanor.
