Why I became an occupational physician

<span class="paragraphSection">I didn’t actually set out to become an ‘occupational physician’. In 1970, I answered an advertisement for a doctor with the National Coal Board (NCB) in South Wales; but I had no concept of a specialist dealing with the ‘world of work’ in general. I was a general practitioner in an urban area; we had full lists and there was no deputizing service. Busy nights and weekends on call were followed by full surgeries and lists of home visits the next day. There was little time or energy left for social activities and I knew my job impinged adversely on my family. I was also dissatisfied and uneasy because I was aware that there were holes in my medical knowledge; I felt that as a family doctor, I should have a working knowledge of the whole of medicine, something I felt unable to achieve.</span>

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