My Ukraine Medical Aid Project - no man is an island.

President: Professor Christopher Stephens MBA MAEd FRCGP

A meeting of the Southampton Medical Society was held on the 5th February 2025. The President was in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

The President introduced the speaker  Dr Leonid Krivskiy FRCA who spoke to the title “My Ukraine Medical Aid Project - no man is an island.” It all started with a row across the Mediterranean for his 50th birthday celebration! He had never rowed before and was surprised to find moments of great happiness during the row. Then the Ukraine war broke out. He is Russian but his wife is from Ukraine and he was horrified by the invasion. He felt a need to do something. He set up a site and within one week had received donations worth £1,000. He sourced things that the Ukrainians needed and drove his car, and later a van, which was packed with equipment of which the hospitals were in need.

Leo said he had always had a dream to row over an ocean. So when he reached his 50th birthday he joined a charity row in the Mediterranean from Barcelona to Ibiza.He not only enjoyed it but realised if he could do something big like rowing the Atlantic he could raise a lot of money to help Ukraine and also test himself with a much greater challenge.

He went into training and planning. The slowest crossing ever recorded was 100 days so he planned food for that time. he ate every two hours to provide enough energy for rowing 12 - 14 hours a day, though not in one go, which needed 8000 to 10,000 calories a day. In fact he ran short before the end as he lost a lot of food when his cabin was flooded one day and it went rotten. There was of course no  engine in his boat. If things went wrong and he was unable to row then he just drifted as happened at night or in storms. If the wind was from the west he used a sea anchor to reduce the backward drift. There was a southerly gale at one point which was very difficult for him. He tried to row westwards but ended up going sideways and suffering a tear in his triceps. He showed a chart of his progress which showed that he was travelling in the wrong direction quite often. Once he was thrown out of the boat but managed to hold on. Getting onboard again was extremely difficult, even though he was lashed to the boat, in 10 metre waves that travel very fast. In the last three weeks he was seriously malnourished and had periods of hallucinations and was so weak he could hardly row. As he approached Barbados a southerly storm with air temperatures of nearly 40 degrees enveloped him and pushed him way from his destination All he could do was to drift with the sea anchor out and he was fortunate to have been found by the Barbados coast guards on patrol who towed him into port and his waiting family.

He paid especial thanks to his colleagues who covered for him while he was away which included doing his shifts when they were off duty for two months.

The President thanked Leo for his dramatic lecture. Leo’s charity, Ukrops, had raised well over £50,000 at the time of the lecture.

The meeting then continued with the inauguration of Dr Mary Alveyn [Rogerson] as President for the coming season by our retiring President Prof. Chris Stephens.

There was no other business.

Shakespeare was a Nom de Plume,Get Over It

President: Professor Christopher Stephens MBA MAEd FRCGP

A meeting of the Southampton Medical Society was held on the 2nd April 2025. The President was in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

The President introduced the speaker Dr Amanda Herbert [Hinds],who spoke to the title “Shakespeare was a Nom de Plume,Get Over It”. Our speaker is Hon Secretary and a Trustee of the DeVere Society. This society was founded to celebrate the life of Edward De Vere 17th Earl of Oxford who the members of the society believe wrote the plays of Shakespeare.

Dr Herbert said that the use of nom de plumes was very common in Elizabethan times. Anything controversial, that might upset the Monarch or her government could easily land you in the Tower of London or worse. Edward de Vere had close links with the ruling classes as he was a ward of Sir  William Cecil, Elizabeth’s Lord Treasurer and so had every reason to hide his real name. Edward was born in 1535 into a family that enjoyed theatre and his father, who died when Edward was 12 years old, had his own troupe of actors that performed regularly.  Edward died in 1604. Shakespeare was born in 1564 or thereabouts and died in 1616.

The supporters of de Vere as the writer of “Shakespeare’s” plays and poetry contend that Shakespeare was a not very good actor and did not have the skill to compose such beautiful poetry. He was considered to be a social climber. Edward  de Vere certainly did possess that gift and was composing verse and plays from an early age and used the nom de plume

“William Shake-speare” to hide behind. They also contend that de Vere was more likely to have the support of the Earl of Southampton than the jobbing actor Shakespeare which was a crucial fact. In 1594 two poems were published under a patron’s name Thomas Wriothesley, who was the 3rd Earl of Southampton. Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrezia. The poems were dedicated to him by the writer. It is considered that Edward de Vere was the most likely person to have written and dedicated the poems to such a person who would have been out of reach to Shakespeare. They also argue that Edward was so much better educated than Shakespeare who would not have been able to access the latin sources of Lucrezia.

The arguments for and against are based on there being far more information about Edward de Vere, He also had his own troupe of actors and so had every reason to write plays. So little is known about ‘Stratford’ Shakespeare’ as records are more scant.

Dr Herbert paid tribute to Alexander Waugh who was a very important scholar and supporter of the DeVere Society who died recently.

The President thanked Amanda for her fascinating lecture. The meeting then proceeded

 to the AGM of the Society the minutes of which will be circulated before the next AGM in 2026.

The Foott Memorial Lecture: “Problems and Solutions for UK Future Healthcare"

President: Professor Christopher Stephens MBA MAEd FRCGP

A meeting of the Southampton Medical Society was held on the 5th March 2025. The President was in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

The President introduced the speaker Professor Andrew Duncombe who is now Editor in Chief of the Future Healthcare Journal, but before retirement was clinical haematologist at Southampton General Hospital. The President asked him to deliver the Foott Memorial Lecture for 2025 entitled “Problems and Solutions for UK Future Healthcare”

            Professor Duncombe started by saying that he was in medicine to care for patients. However it had to be done within the constraints of the healthcare system and in the UK the NHS is in crisis. We all need to be involved in solving this.

            Long A&E waiting times get daily headlines in the press. Why are we doctors not cross about this? Since 2020 the waiting list has nearly doubled, from 4 million in 2020 to 7.7 million in early 2024 reducing to 7.5 million by the end of that year. Ill health affects the workforce. There are 4.6 million people not working due to ill health compared with 3.5 million in work. To try and solve this there needs to be a change in emphasis from treatment to prevention. This is exemplified by the problem of the obesity pandemic. Until the early seventies obesity was an uncommon problem affecting only 1% of  men and 2% of women. Since then there has been an exponential increase in the numbers of obese adults which now affects 30% of the population and we now have a population of young people who will become obese adults. In the late 70s there was a change in the food industry with the firms becoming larger and more powerful. It is a sinister industry which aims to make us eat more by producing hyperpalatable foods. He mentioned other large industries that defy regulation: tobacco, alcohol  [where the harm costs the NHS three times the amount of tax raised], and gambling where nothing much in the way of control is being done. Professor Duncombe told us that health and social deprivation are linked - the more deprived groups suffering more disease.

            Another problem is bed blocking. He was told on the first day of his medical house job about it. He says the problem hasn’t changed in the 50 years since. It has been made worse by the closure of intermediate care units a few years ago. Even recently in the first budget of the new Labour government they allocated 20 times less money into social care than into clinical care even though putting money into social care might help reduce this problem. We could have fixed it years ago when the country was much wealthier. It is a political problem and he mentioned how Manchester and Belfast were dealing with it. In Greater Manchester the NHS is implementing a low cost scheme embedding a multiple health condition approach through population health management (PHM). It focuses on targeted reviews and person centered care to address health inequalities and improve outcomes for individuals with multiple long-term conditions. We should be rolling this out everywhere. 

            Is the private sector a help or hinderance? It can be helpful for orthopaedics but the problem is that it is not a complete substitute for the NHS. Long term care and emergency care are not covered by the private sector. In other countries the private sector has hospitals offering complete care. If these were to be set up tax incentives could be introduced for younger people to take out a full health insurance..

            Professor Duncombe said that doctors and patients have different perspectives on illness. Patients should be more involved in designing medical services. He cited how pressure from patients redesigned the HIV services. There needs to be improved self management of medical conditions. There are good examples in renal medicine and haematology.

            Where do patients want their treatment and from whom? Patients want to be seen by senior medical experts in their homes. Multi disciplinary teams of outreach nurse led teaching groups can overcome this problem. It is no good handing out leaflets about the care needed as patients do not read them. The impact of social media is important. The younger population tend to turn to the internet for medical information but they may not have the scientific knowledge and there are no controls. The antivax and anti-immunisation campaigns are cases in point.

            Staffing is another area of shortage. There will never be enough money to provide the numbers of staff needed. We need whole system solutions. From the consultants point of view they spend a lot of their time doing things that could be done easily by others. He said physician associates seemed to be a good solution but their introduction was a disaster. They are not popular with either the professionals or the patients. They are paid more than an SHO for very little training. They should have a lot of senior supervision.

            Recruitment and retention of medical students and young doctors is important as many do not complete their training. Medical student debt is part of the problem. Professor Duncombe suggested that for every year served in the NHS there could be a percentage reduction of the debt. As to senior doctors he suggested a reduction in their workload proportional to their years of service. He also considered there should be a removal of financial disincentives such as those caused by the rules on pensions. He thought that the idea of replacing a retiring senior doctor with two junior consultants made no financial sense.

            Another issue is climate change and its impact on health. For example tropical diseases are moving north, malaria may well be in the UK by 2040, air pollution and shortage of water. Migration as a result of global conflict is also a problem.

            The NHS Digital For All aims to improve the NHS and social care and healthcare outcomes by linking data and making it accessible to all. A problem is hacking and also that the NHS areas of greatest healthcare need are the least digitally capable He thought that AI had an important role to play. Improved diagnosis at an earlier stage is one thing but it can be used for many other tasks. However there is a lack of accreditation. At present anybody can produce AI software and sell it to a hospital. There is no requirement for testing this new technology. Both Google and Microsoft are developing programmes to sell to the NHS but Professor Duncombe is worried about bias. Outliers are not represented. No one understands how it works. A regulatory system is much needed. This new technology may affect the selection of medical students. The future doctor is going to have to engage with it so what extra qualities will be needed?

            Then there is the very important end of life care. The NHS is farming out the end of life care to the charitable sector. But in comparison it invests a lot of money into the beginning of life care so why does it not invest properly in the end of life? The majority of patients still die in hospital. There is a culture of silence about the system.Our speaker proposed that there should be ACPs trained in this speciality.

He mentioned that as pharmacists are now becoming advanced prescribers their degree courses need to take it into account.  Supervision is needed.

The President thanked Professor Duncombe for his thought provoking and wide ranging talk. 

Prawns on Prozac, whatever next, Crabs on Cocaine?

President: Professor Christopher Stephens MBA MAEd FRCGP

A meeting of the Southampton Medical Society was held on the 5th February 2025. The President was in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

The President introduced the speaker Professor Alex Ford, Professor of Biology at Portsmouth University, who spoke to the title “Prawns on Prozac, whatever next, Crabs on Cocaine?”.

Professor Ford began his talk by saying that there is a triple crisis: Climate Change, Loss of Biodiversity and Pollution. He said that you cannot see the majority of pollution; most people think it is easily visible [and he showed a disgusting picture of a Southern Water pumping station pumping out untreated waste]. There are 12.7 million consented discharges a year recorded officially in this country. Our speaker conducts research into the invisible pollutants: chemicals, drugs - both medical and “recreational”  in vast quantities, and other soluble pollutants which cannot be processed before being discharged. He said there are 150 million registered chemicals on the US Database of which 350,000 are released on a daily basis. There are 19,905 endocrine chemicals, especially oestrogens, being discharged daily. As a result of patients on these drugs children are being seriously affected - reduced sperm counts and cancers - and research is suggesting that the next generation are being affected as well. These oestrogen pollutants are affecting all animals as can be seen in panthers with undescended testicles, feminised male alligators and even sterile maritime snails. Downstream from the discharge points intersex fish have been identified with ovarian tissue in the testes. In an experiment caged fish put downstream from the discharges showed signs of oestrogen effects within 2 weeks of being exposed. In Canada, in Lake 260 the fish have died out due to high oestrogen concentrations. In India vultures have died out due to eating the carcasses of cattle given diclofenac. The pollution map of the UK can highlight areas where antidepressants are prescribed in large amounts.

A dark/light experiment with shrimps showed that after exposure to prozac they swam higher in the water to get more light and thus become more at risk from predators. The prozac affects their genes. Professor Ford said PCBs are still affecting the environment even 30 years after being banned. Lulu the killer whale who was washed up on a beach in Scotland recently had the highest level of PCBs ever recorded. She was infertile. Her pod is dying out as they too are infertile. Then there are the PFASs - the coating on frying pans, clothing etc. which are building up in the food chain. We have to develop better ways of dealing with these substances. At present no-one is doing anything about it.

The President thanked Professor Ford for a brilliant talk.

The Winners of the Foott Memorial Bursary

President: Professor Christopher Stephens MBA MAEd FRCGP

A meeting of the Southampton Medical Society was held on the 4th December 2024. The President was in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were approved. This meeting was a hybrid with some of the speakers on Zoom and some in the meeting room.

The President introduced the winners of the Foott Memorial Bursary who spoke about their experiences during their electives.

Dr Harriet Perkins spoke first. She told us that after getting a degree in maths she visited Vietnam and met a medical student doing an elective there. This sparked an interest in medicine and eventually her going to medical school. She wanted to return to Vietnam for her elective.

 Vietnam has a population of 100 million and the life expectancy is 73.8 years. The population is reducing due to the increase in living standards causing fewer babies to be born.

Health care is provided through a mixture of publicly funded and private hospitals. Harriet spent her elective at Hanoi University Hospital and did 4 weeks in obstetrics and gynaecology and 4 weeks in ophthalmology. She was initiated quickly into using scanners but in OPD she felt there were long periods of just observing. Her description of the Gynaecology outpatients was surprising to our western ways but they get through large numbers of patients in these clinics. The process is something like a conveyor belt and privacy for individuals is a lot less important in Vietnam than here in the UK; but the patients are seen quicker and do not seem phased by the process. She assisted in theatre and was surprised to find the facilities were as good as ours. However in obstetrics the maternal mortality is 5 times higher than ours. Most of this is due to patients living in remote rural areas, poverty and a lack of access to facilities when needed in an emergency.

In her ophthalmology attachment the staff were welcoming and taught her many skills.

After this attachment she went on a tour of the country and found how difficult it was for the rural people to get to a hospital and there are few resources for medical treatment. Local paramedics were the main deliverers of care.

Harriet found that there was a language barrier with staff and patients that left her struggling at times. Their English was poor particularly with reference to medical conditions. She also felt there was a lack of structure and clear understanding by the clinical teams and hospital about her role.

She ended by thanking the Society for the opportunity the bursary offered to see another health system.

Dr Jack Lushington is now on an anaesthetic rotation in Bristol. He is particularly interested in intensive care and emergency medicine. He went to Stellenbosch University Hospital which is the second largest hospital in South Africa. It provides care for over 3 million people in the Western Cape. In his first month he was attached to the Trauma department. He said that there are millions living in corrugated iron huts and these “townships” were overcrowded. There is a lot of trauma: knife attacks, a high rate of shootings, a lack of regard for traffic rules causing injuries to drivers, passengers and pedestrians being involved in frequent accidents. Paydays result in high alcohol consumption and its consequences, such as violent assaults,  particularly at weekends. Suicide attempts are common. The trauma wards were always full. He said that even the  passages of the hospital had electronic locks to prevent gangs from getting to the patients. He gained an enormous amount of experience in a short time.

In his second month he did anaesthetics. He attended scheduled teaching sessions and had one to one teaching from the staff and thus had a lot of hands on experience which he found very beneficial.

Jack said that healthcare disparities caused late presentation of disease. Rates of TB and HIV are high; in fact SA has the highest absolute number of HIV cases in the world. TB cases are such that 0.8% of the population develop it annually but the incidence is showing a reduction over the last ten years.

Some reflections: He noted the resilience of patients and staff. There is clear evidence of positive health improvements generally; a National Insurance Bill has just been passed through parliament to try and reduce health inequalities but he considered there was poor access to hospital care for the general population. He thanked the Society for the opportunity the bursary offered. It had solidified his interest in anaesthesia and critical care. The bursary also offered the opportunity to observe a different healthcare system from our  own.

Dr Aaron Navaneetharajah went to Sri Lanka. He was born in Colombo. His family moved there from Jaffna because of the civil war. Aaron is interested in emergency and pre-hospital care. He was attached to a private hospital emergency care department. It is well funded and similar to our emergency care facilities in the UK. There is a big difference between the government hospitals and the private ones. He saw tropical diseases and in particular dengue though it is decreasing slowly. He also had “taster days“ in different departments and he spent extra time in neonatal care. They take teaching seriously in Sri Lankan medical schools - very like the teaching here.

He observed how lucky we were to have the NHS here. In Sri Lanka if you don’t have money you have less good health care. He thanked the Society for the bursary which helped him to visit Sri Lanka

Dr Isabel Conibear spent her time in the UK. She spent a month in the Salisbury Hospice as she is most interested in oncology and terminal care, and a further month in a rural general practice in Snowdonia. In Salisbury Isabel did ward rounds, helped with treatments, attended patient activity groups and other sessions, such as reflective groups, and made lots of home visits with the outreach staff.

After this she joined a rural and remote GP practice in Snowdonia. She attended clinics, observed consultations and treated minor injuries. She also went round visiting patients with both the GP and nurses.

The whole elective was a most rewarding experience and an important step in her self development. She learned a lot about herself and has become much more self confident and resilient.

She thanked the Society for the bursary which had been an important help in arranging  this elective.

The President thanked all the speakers and congratulated them on their presentations.

The Story of the Hythe Pier.

President: Professor Christopher Stephens MBA MAEd FRCGP

A meeting of the Southampton Medical Society was held on the 6th November 2024 at the Ampfield Golf Club. The President was in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were approved. This was a lunchtime meeting.

The President introduced the speaker Mr Anthony Smith, Chairman of the Hythe Pier Heritage Association, who told the story of the Hythe Pier.

Mr Smith said there had been a ferry service between Hythe and Southampton since at least the year 1575.

As the population increased there was a greater need for a regular ferry service. The beach in Hythe is very wide and muddy which, even with a primitive stone jetty, made accessing the ferry boats difficult. The need for a pier was raised in Parliament in 1864. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1867 and work started in 1880. The pier was opened in 1881. It is 640 metres long. The pier was used for carrying anything from farm animals and goods to people out to the ferry. Due to the length of the pier a hand luggage truck was introduced which is still in use today. After the First World War the pier was so popular and busy that in 1922 a narrow gauge railway system was built. The three locomotives were from a First WW mustard gas factory and the four carriages were specially designed and built for the railway. Mr Smith showed pictures from the 1920s of the large crowds of people on their way to work in Southampton. After the 2nd WW the number of passengers gradually declined as firms moved away from the Southampton area, or closed down, and the arrival of alternative means of transport competed for customers. The main group of visitors is now tourists who of course come in the summer months.

Mr Smith then described the two groups involved with running the pier. The Hythe Pier Heritage Association looks after managing the pier and project developments for its upkeep whilst Hythe Mens Shed At The Pier and its volunteers do any practical maintenance work needed. They have been fortunate in attracting volunteers of high calibre with practical and financial expertise.

In 2016 the then owners of the pier announced that it was not a viable business and was likely to be demolished.  A petition to save the pier attracted thousands of signatures and resulted in the formation of the HPHA.

Since the HPHA was founded there have been major surveys of the buildings and the structure of the pier resulting in large engineering projects above and below the waterline and the refurbishment of the tractors and carriages and railway track. Removal of asbestos was an early project. It is now a listed building grade 2.

Repairing and maintaining a Victorian pier costs a lot of money. Fundraising was essential and involves the community, heritage days, rock-the-pier concerts and a shop. Hampshire CC the National Park Authority and private donors have provided money to help with large engineering projects, whilst other funding has been the basis of smaller sums. HPHA is in the process of applying for National Lottery funding for the major project of restoring the Victorian ironwork and the foundations of the pier above and below the waterline. General maintenance is ongoing with the restoration of the last carriage and the historic waiting rooms.

Over the centuries there have been 24 different ferry boats. The ferry itself is presently owned by a national company though it is not in operation at the moment as the ferryboat is being refurbished.

The President thanked Mr Smith for his most interesting talk.

http://hythepierha.org.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/HythePierHA/?locale=en_GB

The Birth of Oceanography

President: Professor Christopher Stephens MBA MAEd FRCGP

A meeting of the Southampton Medical Society was held on the 2nd October 2024 at the Ampfield Golf Club. The previous year’s President, Dr David Rowen, was in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

A minutes silence was held in memory of two doctors: Dr Arthur Page and Dr Colin Godber.

Dr Rowen introduced our speaker Dr John Gould, who spoke to the title “The Birth of Oceanography”. Dr Gould said this is a story of two research ships and raises the very old question of How do the Oceans Work? It is particularly important in relation to climate change. The two ships are HMS Challenger and the German ship SMS Gazelle.

Communications were very difficult in 1872. Suez was started in 1869, In the 1860s communication by cable was being developed and the first transatlantic cable was laid in 1885. There was no knowledge as to what the oceans were really like. Edward Forbes in his azoic theory thought there was no life possible at depth and Thomas Huxley propounded his theory that the oceans had an inexhaustible amounts of large fish. As a consequence a number of expeditions were set up to try and find out - for example HMS Porcupine , HMS Lightening and of course HMS Challenger under the captaincy of Charles Wyville Thomson. Challenger was a small ship with a large number of scientists and crew on board. It was very crowded. Our speaker introduced the scientists to us one by one.

Challenger was away for 4 years and zigzagged over the oceans, an equivalent distance of three times around the world.  The Gazelle was set up by the German government to compete for knowledge and followed Challenger. The two expeditions were very different. The Gazelle had a bad time with illness. Scurvy affected the whole crew while the Challenger had no cases as the crew had citrus rations. Malaria was severe on the Gazelle whilst the Challenger kept it at bay with quinine. The crew of the Gazelle also suffered many serious accidents. This was not a problem on the Challenger. Both met up by accident in Montevideo and such was the degree of suffering in the Gazelle that she was quarantined.

The results of the Challengers observations have stood the test of time. For instance the measurements of salinity have not changed between then and now. The multiple volumes containing the scientific observation from this expedition are still studied.

The observations of the these two scientific cruises which departed in 1872 are the baseline of todays observations on global warming and the changing climate.

Both ships were eventually broken up, Dr Gould said, but the figurehead of HMS Challenger now adorns the front hall of the Southampton University Oceanography Centre.

Dr Rowen thanked the speaker for his very interesting and fascinating lecture. There being no other business the meeting was closed.

Novel Wearable Sensors and the Challenges of getting them to market

President: Prof. Christopher Stephens FRCGP

A meeting of the Southampton Medical Society was held on the 1st May 2024 at the Ampfield Golf Club. The President was in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

The President introduced the speakers Prof. Neil White, Dr Harry Ackerman and Dr Rod Lane. They spoke to the title “Novel Wearable Sensors and the Challenges of getting them to market”. They each described their part in developing low cost and lightweight wearable sensors. In 2008 they went to a local firm, iProms, to develop software for a new sensor. The main difficulty in their way was one of accuracy. The Key design features were: Easy to set up; Accurate; socially acceptable; comfortable to wear for long periods; an acceptable price point; must have App control and, to top it all, be the size of a £1 coin! A big problem was that the grant they received to develop such an instrument, half a million pounds over three years, had to be done in the University and not in a hospital. There is research that shows that patients who had an increased respiration rate were at a greater risk of dying. The  new sensor would  have to be able to detect the increase in respiration rate, give an alert when the O2 saturation began to fall and also recording the passage of time.

NASA had developed electronic sensors for Mars roamers that recorded the speed and movement of the robotic arm of the Mars Rover. This was a starting point for our team to set about developing their new sensor to record respiratory rates accurately. Counting respiratory rates is notoriously difficult. They arranged for medical students in the gym on static bikes to wear the new sensor and compare it with other sensors and normal observation. The PneumoRater, as it is to be called, eventually became much better than the opposition. It is in its final trials at present and the hope is that it will be accepted into clinical anaesthetic practice in the near future.

The President thanked the speaking team. He considered the development of the science behind their invention was fascinating and very interesting.

Travels in Medical Education - a journey

President: Dr David Rowen FRCP

A meeting of the Southampton Medical Society was held on the 3rd April 2024 at the Ampfield Golf Club. The President was in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

The President introduced our speaker Prof. Chris Stephens who spoke to the title “ Travels in Medical Education - a journey”.

Prof. Stephens began by outlining his journey in medicine from GP to Professor of Medical Education in Southampton University which became a department in its own right.

He qualified in 1979. He joined the army on a medical student short service commission and after qualification was posted to the Army Air Corps as their MO. After this he joined the Victor Street Surgery in Southampton as a GP partner. He was interested in medical education and did a Masters Degree in his spare time. It was Professor Mick Arthur who was also interested in the concept of a ‘safe learning environment’ and appointed Chris in a new Medical Education Department. The emphasis was on a modern curriculum.

Chris found he was making contact with Medical Schools abroad after the Egyptian Government asked if he would help setting up a new medical school in Cairo. Egypt was a police state and he considered that he had to to refuse this invitation. There were other unsuitable approaches from unstable and war torn countries as well and Chris felt unable to assist them as learning and supervising in this type of environment is not really possible.  Other difficulties he came across were numerous such as having to turn down Saudi Arabia Princess Nourah University, even though it is a large university, as it was open only to female staff and students and there were numerous practical difficulties. They did however form links with the international medical schools in Helsinki, Dar es Salaam and Kassel in in Germany. He had travelled the world in assessing a large number of medical schools who wished to form connections with Southampton which was an interesting privilege.

Another change he introduced was to move the 4th year project to the third year so the student could leave with a full degree after finals.

The President thanked Professor Stephens for his talk and said his department had gained a great deal of respect and it was a well deserved appointment when he was appointed Professor.

Hitler’s Playground - The story of the Obersalzberg

A meeting of the Southampton Medical Society was held on the 6th March 2024 at the Ampfield Golf Club. The President was in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

The President introduced our speaker Dr John Glasspool. He spoke to the title : Hitler’s Playground - The story of the Obersalzberg.

Dr Glasspool said he first visited the Obersalzberg 40 years ago and has returned every year since. He described the mountainous area with its wonderful green grazing in summer where cattle drovers take their cows and make cheese from the milk.  In the autumn they return to lower levels and keep the cattle inside for the winter as the area is snowed in.

Berchtesgaden, the main town, sits on a peninsula virtually surrounded by Austria. Down the valley is the Königsee. For 20,000 years salt mining has been its main source of wealth - white gold.

Dr Glasspool said the Nazis ruined the area. On the 9th November 1923 at the Beerhall Putsch Hitler was attempting a coup d’état but this failed and Hitler was consigned to Landsberg Prison. It was a long trial and it gave Hitler an opportunity to put forward his National Socialist beliefs. After his release Hitler fell in love with the Obersalzberg and bought a little hut there where he could have “complete peace”. In 1935 Hitler’s personal assistant Martin Bormann began to transform the area. A farmhouse was built for Hitler and a hotel converted for the party faithful with the original owner being sent to Dachau. SS guards were stationed at the entrance to the Hotel. A cult of Hitler began to develop and queues to see Hitler’s house were regularly occurring. Then for Hitler’s 50th birthday a fortified house was built as a present which became known as the Eagle’s Nest. He only visited it a few times as he developed claustrophobia in the lift. It soon became surrounded by houses built by close allies in the Party.

In 1945 the area was destroyed by repeated bombing. No sign of it remains and the area has returned to natural forest. It is now a National Park.

The President thanked Dr Glasspool for his most interesting talk