A life in medical writing and editing

I’ve always enjoyed discussions about things I find interesting and so getting into medical writing and editing was something that happened naturally. After giving talks I felt flattered to be invited to contribute articles and chapters for books, which I dutifully did, always to the specified brief and usually on time. Subsequent experience makes me realise this was both laudable and unusual behaviour, and it led to other opportunities.

Medical Masterclass

In the late 1990’s the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), stimulated by an approach from a publisher, decided to produce learning materials to help junior doctors preparing for what was then the only postgraduate exam for physicians (MRCP, Membership of the RCP). I became Editor-in-Chief of ‘Medical Masterclass’, comprising 12 books and a website, which was very successful for about 15 years, going through three editions and several other reprints until the RCP’s powers-that-be decided to stop publishing it. They haven’t replaced it with anything similar, which I think is a bad mistake: they should be telling newly qualified doctors, ‘medicine is really interesting; being a physician is a great career; join us, here’s how we’ll help you take your first steps in it’

The Oxford Textbook of Medicine

In the 1960’s and 70’s there wasn’t an English medical textbook that could compete with the Americans. The 14th edition of one was reviewed as follows in an important medical journal: referring to the editor’s credits including being ‘physician to Her Majesty the Queen’ the reviewer concluded, ‘the predominant thought that comes to mind is: God Save The Queen!’

David Weatherall, professor of medicine in Oxford, determined to put this right, enlisting colleagues John Ledingham and David Warrell as co-editors of the first edition of the Oxford Textbook of Medicine, which became widely known as the OTM. John was a charismatic man who greatly influenced me and many generations of Oxford students. I was surprised and delighted when asked by Oxford University Press (more eminent people having declined) to take over from him as an editor of OTM4e (published in 2003) and OTM5e (2010), and then as Senior Editor of OTM6e (2020). It’s been a wonderful way to keep up to date with changes in medicine: new understandings, new diseases (think Covid), new investigations, new treatments. I wish I could remember more than a small fraction of the things I’ve read and edited!

Less serious things

Following Richard Asher’s injunction for ‘letting off steam and entertaining others’, I’ve written occasional articles about things that have irritated me in medical journals, and had a letter published in The Times about one of my pet hates. How many times have you heard someone compare the safety record in hospitals with that of airlines? The then Medical Director of the NHS lectured me and others trying to run hospital Admissions’ Units on this theme. I asked him how many times he’d been on a plane which had more passengers than seats or was forced to take off before the pilot was ready. He didn’t take it well. I received feedback including, ‘this is the best letter I’ve ever read’ and ‘do you realise that your career in the NHS is now over’