BMJ 2014;348:g2131 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g2131 (Published 26 March 2014)
Page 1 of 2
Observations
OBSERVATIONS BMJ CONFIDENTIAL
Muir Gray: Evangelist for walking In the latest in its series asking the movers and shakers of the medical world about work, life, and less serious matters, the BMJ spoke to the pioneer of screening and champion of public health The worst? I would not call Mr Lansley the worst, but he did behave the most like an official—something that Enoch Powell said ministers should never do.
Who is the person you would most like to thank and why? My wife and daughters, who have put up with it all.
To whom would you most like to apologise? What was your earliest ambition?
My wife and daughters, who have put up with it all.
To be a farmer.
If you were given £1m what would you spend it on?
Who has been your biggest inspiration? Brunel. There comes a point where more data won’t help make the decision; you just have to start driving the railroad through the mountain range.
What was the worst mistake in your career? Taking instruction to sew up an episiotomy over the phone and obeying, despite never having done it before.
What was your best career move? Going to work for the county borough of Oxford in 1972.
The launch of a national system of care for single homeless people, involving them as key workers.
Where are you or were you happiest? Today, where I am. I had a big STEMI (ST segment elevation myocardial infarction) two years ago and renal failure at age 12—before dialysis—so I always think of my alternative life spans.
What single unheralded change has made the most difference in your field in your lifetime?
Bevan or Lansley? Who has been the best and the worst health secretary in your lifetime?
The internet, which allows us to provide clean, clear knowledge to every citizen, just as we provide clean, clear water.
The best were Keith Joseph and Barbara Castle, who between them created and then implemented the 1974 reforms. These reforms brought together the isolated islands created in 1948 when the NHS was established. Teaching hospitals, for example, were separate from other hospitals. Keith Joseph, the Conservative health secretary, proposed the changes, and Barbara Castle implemented them when Labour came to power in 1974.
Actually, my greater concern is doctor assisted survival.
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Do you believe in doctor assisted suicide? What book should every doctor read? The Illness Narratives by Arthur Kleinman.
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
BMJ 2014;348:g2131 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g2131 (Published 26 March 2014)
Page 2 of 2
OBSERVATIONS
Biography Muir Gray recently described himself (in a tweet) as the Don Quixote of the NHS: “tilting, always tilting.” His target is not windmills, but sloppy thinking. As chief knowledge officer of the NHS his job was defined by what he does—promoting improved care by the better use of evidence. Born, raised, and educated in Glasgow, he was a surgeon before he turned to public health in the 1970s. He directed the UK National Screening Committee, setting tough but clear rules that have since kept it on the rails, and he is now trying to do the same for health problems in general. He’s an evangelist for walking: obesity, he claims, is a walking deficiency syndrome. He will be 70 this year and is preparing a book, provisionally titled F*** Seventy, for people in their 70s to transform their health and health services.
What poem, song, or passage of prose would you like mourners at your funeral to hear? On the Sunny Side of the Street.
What is your guiltiest pleasure? Buying paper books.
If you could be invisible for a day what would you do? Spend it with tigers at London Zoo.
Clarkson or Clark? Would you rather watch Top Gear or Civilisation? I prefer the radio, because I can walk while listening to music.
What is your most treasured possession? My wedding ring; everything else is disposable.
What personal ambition do you still have? To see a health service in which we can answer simple questions such as: • Is the service for people with seizures and epilepsy in Manchester of higher value than the service in Liverpool? • Who is responsible for the service for all women with pelvic pain in Birmingham?
• How many liver disease services does England have, and how many should it have? • Which service for people at the end of life in London provides the best value?
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
• Is the service for people with asthma in Norfolk of higher value than the service in Somerset? And to see a health service in which we deliver the best current knowledge, in time, for every fateful decision.
Summarise your personality in three words. Optimistic, positive, puritan.
Where does alcohol fit into your life? Weekly discussion in a pub is a key part of my learning.
What is your pet hate? Ideologies.
What would be on the menu for your last supper? Pasta e pesto.
Do you have any regrets about becoming a doctor? No.
If you weren’t in your present role what would you be doing instead? I would like to be a director of public health in a London borough. Cite this as: BMJ 2014;348:g2131 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2014
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
Page 1 of 2
Observations
OBSERVATIONS BMJ CONFIDENTIAL
Muir Gray: Evangelist for walking In the latest in its series asking the movers and shakers of the medical world about work, life, and less serious matters, the BMJ spoke to the pioneer of screening and champion of public health The worst? I would not call Mr Lansley the worst, but he did behave the most like an official—something that Enoch Powell said ministers should never do.
Who is the person you would most like to thank and why? My wife and daughters, who have put up with it all.
To whom would you most like to apologise? What was your earliest ambition?
My wife and daughters, who have put up with it all.
To be a farmer.
If you were given £1m what would you spend it on?
Who has been your biggest inspiration? Brunel. There comes a point where more data won’t help make the decision; you just have to start driving the railroad through the mountain range.
What was the worst mistake in your career? Taking instruction to sew up an episiotomy over the phone and obeying, despite never having done it before.
What was your best career move? Going to work for the county borough of Oxford in 1972.
The launch of a national system of care for single homeless people, involving them as key workers.
Where are you or were you happiest? Today, where I am. I had a big STEMI (ST segment elevation myocardial infarction) two years ago and renal failure at age 12—before dialysis—so I always think of my alternative life spans.
What single unheralded change has made the most difference in your field in your lifetime?
Bevan or Lansley? Who has been the best and the worst health secretary in your lifetime?
The internet, which allows us to provide clean, clear knowledge to every citizen, just as we provide clean, clear water.
The best were Keith Joseph and Barbara Castle, who between them created and then implemented the 1974 reforms. These reforms brought together the isolated islands created in 1948 when the NHS was established. Teaching hospitals, for example, were separate from other hospitals. Keith Joseph, the Conservative health secretary, proposed the changes, and Barbara Castle implemented them when Labour came to power in 1974.
Actually, my greater concern is doctor assisted survival.
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
Do you believe in doctor assisted suicide? What book should every doctor read? The Illness Narratives by Arthur Kleinman.
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
BMJ 2014;348:g2131 doi: 10.1136/bmj.g2131 (Published 26 March 2014)
Page 2 of 2
OBSERVATIONS
Biography Muir Gray recently described himself (in a tweet) as the Don Quixote of the NHS: “tilting, always tilting.” His target is not windmills, but sloppy thinking. As chief knowledge officer of the NHS his job was defined by what he does—promoting improved care by the better use of evidence. Born, raised, and educated in Glasgow, he was a surgeon before he turned to public health in the 1970s. He directed the UK National Screening Committee, setting tough but clear rules that have since kept it on the rails, and he is now trying to do the same for health problems in general. He’s an evangelist for walking: obesity, he claims, is a walking deficiency syndrome. He will be 70 this year and is preparing a book, provisionally titled F*** Seventy, for people in their 70s to transform their health and health services.
What poem, song, or passage of prose would you like mourners at your funeral to hear? On the Sunny Side of the Street.
What is your guiltiest pleasure? Buying paper books.
If you could be invisible for a day what would you do? Spend it with tigers at London Zoo.
Clarkson or Clark? Would you rather watch Top Gear or Civilisation? I prefer the radio, because I can walk while listening to music.
What is your most treasured possession? My wedding ring; everything else is disposable.
What personal ambition do you still have? To see a health service in which we can answer simple questions such as: • Is the service for people with seizures and epilepsy in Manchester of higher value than the service in Liverpool? • Who is responsible for the service for all women with pelvic pain in Birmingham?
• How many liver disease services does England have, and how many should it have? • Which service for people at the end of life in London provides the best value?
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
• Is the service for people with asthma in Norfolk of higher value than the service in Somerset? And to see a health service in which we deliver the best current knowledge, in time, for every fateful decision.
Summarise your personality in three words. Optimistic, positive, puritan.
Where does alcohol fit into your life? Weekly discussion in a pub is a key part of my learning.
What is your pet hate? Ideologies.
What would be on the menu for your last supper? Pasta e pesto.
Do you have any regrets about becoming a doctor? No.
If you weren’t in your present role what would you be doing instead? I would like to be a director of public health in a London borough. Cite this as: BMJ 2014;348:g2131 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2014
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
