Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2011 | Page 46

INTERVIEW

January, 1991.
“I spent more than 30 very happy
years there, and would not have
missed a day of it,” said Dr. Paul.
“I was also on the surgical staff at
St Mary’s Hospital working under
a very fine surgeon Gordon Walker,
who improved the surgical services on
the Island very much. I did a lot of
emergency surgery when standing in
for one of the juniors, who had to have
time off. So in the end I did get to do
some surgery, which gave me the best
of both worlds.”
While working in Pyle Street, Dr.
Paul became one of the first people
in the country to work on what was
known as developmental paediatrics.
He explained: “Rather than just
looking after children when they
were poorly, we monitored their
progress from birth to school entry
age to make sure they didn’t have any
difficulties that might upset their
education, such as deafness, vision or
behavioural problems. The aim was
to do something about it before they
went to school, so they would not be
disadvantaged.”
A grant from the Ministry of Health
allowed Dr Paul and other doctors
around the country to carry out a
survey and write a report on their
findings, but to his dismay the report
was left on a Ministry shelf to gather
dust, and he is bitterly disappointed to
hear that his former practice has now
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also abandoned the scheme.
Just before his retirement Dr. Paul
enjoyed one of his proudest moments
when he was invited to become
the Provost of the Royal College of
General Practitioners for the whole of
the south of England, stretching from
Portsmouth to Basingstoke, Newbury,
Bath and Poole, and also including the
Channel Islands.
“I regard that as a great honour
because you are elected by your
colleagues. I was Provost for the
two-year term, and the area embraced
between 4,000 and 5,000 doctors,” he
explained.
After retirement Dr. Paul was able to
pursue other interests. A keen member
of the Isle of Wight Historical
Association and former chairman, he
researched and published a book