The Right Thing?

Richard Colman is an independently-minded man and doctor, whose unconventional life and medical career has seen him challenge the medical establishment both from without, as a GP, and from within, as a member of the General Medical Council, motivated by his understanding of the doctor's duty to do 'the right thing' which is not on occasions primarily to please. In this autobiography, Dr Colman covers his early life, his travels and medical training. He documents his family life and search for a work/life balance whilst renovating a rundown National Trust farm house in the North Yorkshire Moors. He notes the beginnings of the holistic movement and consumerism in healthcare in the 1980s. He challenged the restraint on advertising by doctors seen as against the public interest. As a member of the GMC he sees the influence of the medico-political climate of the time, exposes the reality behind what became known as the 'Bristol Scandal'. He is critical of the decision to introduce 'revalidation' for all doctors. He considers the consumer model is not appropriate for healthcare and is critical of recent developments which have devastated medical morale leading to a haemorrhaging of medical experience through early retirement and emigration.
About the Author: Dr Richard Colman was born in 1949 in York but his teens were spent in Lancashire. Despite suffering from dyslexia, he progressed via a secondary modern to study Medicine at Cambridge. From his mid teens onwards he travelled widely, in Europe, North America and Australasia, hitchhiking, usually alone, on a limited budget. Experiences gained nourished a love of adventure and shaped his views of people and of the world. Following his training as a GP he has worked for short spells as a ship's doctor as well as a GP in Australia and Saudi Arabia, before developing a part-time portfolio career of assorted interests back in the UK. He has become concerned about the politicalization of medicine and in particular is critical of the General Medical Council of which he was a member for five years. Now retired, he lives in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park with his wife, Mary, in a Grade II listed farm house which they renovated as tenants of the National Trust and from where they raised their five children (four of whom were born at home). He still coaches and referees Judo and has recently taken up bee keeping.