Dr Sarah Myhill MB BS A very special Woman !

Today, while having a trawl around the internet, I stumbled upon this Woman and her fantastic website. Clearly Sarah is not prepared to adhere to the outdated rule book, or grovel to big pharma and junk food. More and more, we are learning of healthcare professionals, who remember why they became a healthcare professional. To help others to a happier and healthier life. These are brave people who stick their heads above the parapet, and very often receive scorn and ridicule from their peers. They are worthy of the highest respect. Some words I found on Sarah’s website, in no particular order, but these words give me great hope. Some people cannot be bought, some people put the interest of their patients first, some people are very special, I believe Sarah is one of those people.

Eddie

That is to say doctors should be patients’ advocates, fighting as hard as they possibly can for what they believe is the best treatment for each patient. Instead, many doctors have become what I call “defenders of the faith”. The big problem being that the “faith” is laid down by Big Pharma who manipulate drug trials in order to give favourable outcomes (gosh, when I dictated that originally it came out as incomes! Actually either would do!). As a result of which medicine today no longer follows a logical and independent science base. Indeed, the current system of post graduate medical teaching is akin to mothers learning about nutrition from advertisement hoardings posted by the food industry.

It is generally assumed that doctors go into private practice in order to earn lots of money. Fine, if you are an NHS Consultant with a long NHS waiting list which patients can jump courtesy of BUPA. These economics do not apply to the single GP living in rural Wales where, let's face it, the local people are very careful with their money, trying to compete with the local medical service where consultations are free, prescriptions are free and referrals to the hospital are also free. No, economics is not the reason why I have ended up in private practice. Indeed, I have to say I am very bad at economics – I know I have enough money to give myself a very adequate lifestyle and see my two daughters through university. I have no savings, no pension plan and no intention to retire because I enjoy my work. For me not to work would be the death knell. This style of medicine suits me. However, I would not advise any young doctor to tread the path I have trod unless they have very good reason. It is fraught with insecurity, lack of support and of course very poor holiday entitlement. Furthermore, other doctors who do not understand my style of practice regularly complain about me to the GMC and although none of these complaints has come to anything, simply answering their numerous queries is tiresome.

The only reason I can see for a General Practice grade doctor to go into private practice is for clinical freedoms. I have worked for 20 years within the NHS in General Practice and increasingly found myself restricted by what I was and was not allowed to do. Having recently spent six months as an Associate Specialist at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital working with patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, these restrictions have become so great that I am simply unable to practise there.


The dietary advice for diabetics given to British patients by most NHS dieticians is little short of appalling. They continue to prescribe high carbohydrate diets to their patients and concentrate on regulating the diet with respect to when carbohydrates are eaten instead of the correct change in the diet to reduce carbohydrate intake to a low glycaemic index diet.

Dr Sarah Myhill MB BS

Link to Sarah's website here.