Just a GP: Diaries from a Career in General Practice

’With General Practice currently facing existential challenges, it is truly inspirational to be reminded what determined individuals, with a clear set of intensely human values, can achieve... This is the story of an extraordinary career during a profoundly important phase in the history of British medicine - someone who was justifiably proud to be ＂just a GP＂.’

Sir David Haslam CBE FRCGP

Past President and Chairman of Council, Royal College of General Practitioners

Past President, British Medical Association

Past Chair, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

This autobiography from Sir Denis Pereira Gray offers a unique insight into the life and career of a hugely distinguished and influential general practitioner, from what led him to study medicine, learning his craft in the 1960s, through years of clinical practice and research to senior leadership roles within and outside the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Through detailed diaries enlivened by wonderful anecdotes, both personal and professional, Sir Denis shares candidly with the reader a lifetime of experience gained and lessons learned, highly applicable today when general practice is facing many challenges and detractors.

Both informative and inspirational, Just a GP is an essential read for many who have journeyed through the profession with Sir Denis and those who are in the midst of or contemplating a career in general practice today.

Sir Denis Pereira Gray worked as a general practitioner for 38 years in the St Leonard’s Medical Practice Exeter, following his father and grandfather. He was President of the Cambridge University Chess Club and has been awarded the gold medal of the Hunterian Society, London, the gold medal of the Royal Institute of Public Health, and honorary doctorates by three British universities. He established the first postgraduate university department of general practice in Europe at the University of Exeter and was later appointed Professor and Director of the Exeter University Postgraduate Medical School, serving for ten years. He was twice elected by the registered medical practitioners in England to the General Medical Council. He has written/edited nine books and has had over 200 articles published in scientific medical journals. Sir Denis has been a member of several Government Committees including the Review of the Abortion Act. He was elected Chairman of Council and later President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Chairman of the JCPTGP, a medical regulatory body, and was Chairman of the Trustees of the Nuffield Trust, a national health policy charity. He was knighted for services to quality assurance in general practice. Sir Denis was Vice-Chairman and then Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges of Britain and Ireland, the first GP ever elected. He is one of 35 British doctors who have been elected to the, of the National Academy of Medicine, Washington, USA. He is currently doing research at the St Leonard’s Research Practice, Exeter, is an Assessor for the Queen’s Award for Higher and Further Education and Patron of the National Association for Patient Participation.