Tower and Town, August 2021

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Marlborough’s First Full-time Woman Doctor: Pam Tulloch

I grew up in coastal Ayrshire, in Troon (the land of golf), and then went to Medical School in Edinburgh, followed by five years of further assorted clinical training in Scotland.

By a series of coincidences (some would call it serendipity!), I was accepted for a partnership in the longstanding Marlborough GP practice in 1984. There had been two women doctors previously, but on limited time contracts. So it was the five chaps and me!

I felt very fortunate, especially as a single female, to be welcomed in Marlborough, and rapidly came to feel at home here. If I'm being picky, it is rather far from the sea, and from “God's Own Country” i.e. Scotland!

I have had the chance to get involved in all sorts of parts of the community, particularly St Mary’s Church which was open and friendly. I made the mistake very early on of asking if they “had any Home Groups?” which became an important involvement, including leading a group for 15-20 years. The League of Friends of Savernake Hospital was another important example, coffee mornings and all!

In the practice I attracted a lot of, not surprisingly, gynaecology and mental health concerns, as well as the full cross section of GP work; the variety of this was always what had attracted me to general practice as a speciality, a great mixture both of people and medical issues. I enjoyed the continuity, walking with people through different stages of their lives: e.g. growing families; mid-life crises (!); serious and less serious health problems; even bereavements. It is a very privileged position.

General practice was different in those days; some changes have clearly been for the better, but some less so. We used to manage with two partners' meetings a year: (1) to plan the staff Christmas party; (2) to share out holiday time. Now weekly meetings are the norm, since NHS bureaucracy, and its “business model” has ballooned. I think this increase in administrative responsibilities is one of the reasons many young doctors prefer not to take on a partnership role.

I was ready to retire, but there was no job I would rather have spent those 35 years doing.