Dr Graeme Dickson 

Consultant Anaesthetist

  • Dr Dickson was appointed Consultant Anaesthetist on the first of March 1988.
  • He was the Anaesthetist for team 2, which at the time was Mr. K Porter and Mr. T Bottting.
  • Also had duties for anaesthesia for burns and plastics.
  • Replaced Dr C Thomas who moved to the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital
  • The other Consultant Anaesthetists at this time were Dr M Ghoris and Dr A Sutcliffe
  • We also had a senior registrar and three registrars in anaesthesia on rotation for either 3 or 6 months
  • Dr Dickson also had duties on the Major Injuries Unit. On call was one night in three and he had responsibility for team 2 patients 
  • He had been a senior registrar at the Accident Hospital from May to October 1985. This experience triggered his interest in trauma and burns anaesthesia and critical care which continued in various hospitals until his retirement in February 2017.
  • Before his appointment to the Accident Hospital he was Visiting Assistant Professor of Anaesthesiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston Texas. This was the major trauma centre for southern Texas
  • At the Accident hospital he developed research interests with Dr J Bull and Dr P Gosling.
  • These collaborations produced papers on injury scoring and biochemical markers in trauma.
  • Although the work was at times arduous Dr Dickson has many fond memories of the unique team spirit which existed at the Accident Hospital at this time. This was sadly never replicated as the trauma service was moved around the city after closure in August 1993. 
  • This ethos was an essential element of the very high standard of clinical care and the research output which characterised all departments of the hospital at this time. 
  • Dr Dickson remembers for example many of the consultant surgeons doing ward rounds on a Saturday morning followed by an informal meeting in the consultants dining room where ideas were shared. This was not normal practice in the NHS at the time and is a good example of the dedication of the surgical staff.
  • The three consultant anesthetists provided continuous cover to the theatres and the intensive care unit. Locums were never employed. This meant that the consultants often worked a one in two rota, for instance during summer holidays.
  • The anaesthetic department had a rota for the trainee anaesthetists which meant they were never on call for more than 24 hours.  This was very advanced and sensible thinking for that time. It was many years before other hospitals in the region caught up. 
  • Due to the influence of Dr C Thomas and others the Major Injuries Unit was using the very latest techniques and equipment. An example of that would be that pumped arterio venous haemofiltration was being used at the Accident hospital years before it was adopted at the Queen Elizabeth. The same was also true for the rapid uptake of the use of laryngeal masks at the Accident hospital 
  • Dr Dickson was part of a team sent from the Burns unit to assist in a fire disaster in Jamshedpur in India in 1992. The Home Office was approached by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to send a team and they choose the Accident Hospital as it was probably the leading burns unit in the country at the time 

Publications of Dr Dickson whilst at the Accident Hospital:

Gosling P and Dickson GR (1990) 

Syringe Injection Pressure: a neglected factor in blood po2 determination

Ann Clin Biochem 27 147 – 151

Bull JP and Dickson GR. (1991)

Injury Scoring by Triss and ISS/ Age

Injury 21 127 131

Hardwick M, Dickson GR and Clutton Brock T. (1991)

Use of the Inspiron nebuliser during continuous positive pressure ventilation

Anaesthesia 46   664-667

Gosling P and Dickson GR. (1992)

Serum c – reactive protein in patients with serious trauma

Injury 23. 483- 486

Florkovski M, Rossi ML, Carey MP, Poulton K, Dickson GR, and Fernet RE.  (1992)

Rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure following carbon monoxide poisoning

Clin Toxicology. 30(3) 443- 454.

Dickson GR (1992)

Hospital Deaths

The Times. 1st May 1992 London.

Presentations by Dr Dickson whilst at the Accident Hospital:

Experience with Injury Scoring

Presented by GR Dickson at the 2nd annual meeting of the British Trauma Society, Birmingham 1991. 

Reflections 

Looking back from retirement on a long and very interesting career he would say without a doubt that the five years as a consultant at the Accident Hospital was the peak of his professional time. The hospital was a busy, unique and immensely exciting place to work where clinical practice was of a very high standard and there was real commitment from all of the staff. It was an honour and a pleasure he will never forget.