Popular doctor retires after serving Ballasalla for 28 years

 

DR Curphey Taggart is retiring as a GP in Ballasalla after 28 years' service to the community.

A gently humorous and self-deprecating approach has made Dr Taggart, 55, a very popular GP over the years.

Born and brought up in Ballasalla, where he had his primary education, he attended Castle Rushen High School. Some of his patients will remember him as a little boy playing soldiers!

Born into a farming family, everyone expected him to become a vet.
'I was brought up on a farm, Ballawoods, it was expected. In retrospect it was the best thing — I would have made an awful vet.'

He studied medicine at Liverpool University.

As part of his training, he did stints at hospitals and, while at Noble's Hospital, he met Dee, a nurse, who he married.

Dr Taggart started as a GP in Ballasalla under the watchful eye of Dr Gillian Burdett in 1980.

'I have moved from being an old-fashioned GP in one of the rooms in Dr Burdett's house,' he explained.

'It was a free for all, we moved gradually into a dedicated, purpose-built surgery. We stayed there until four years ago.'

At that point the surgery moved into Malew Commissioners' office building.

'By old fashioned', he explained, 'there were no staff, the doctors did everything; there were no appointments.'

He added: 'I like the current system, it works. As long as we can keep the personal approach to patients, we deliver better care and it's standardised; it's harder work for us, but it does produce better medical care.'

The only problem is time.

Being Manx, and local, there's nothing like a bit of skeet with Dr Taggart.

'People come in for a chat,' he said. 'It's trying to get that bit in, given the time constraints.

'Giving them a little bit of time often helps, they might even tell you what they really came in for!'

Today's health service was more about 'advice and health promotion and sickness prevention rather than fire-fighting', he said.

Nurses play a major role. 'They have a bigger role to play in health promotion and sickness prevention — they are more autonomous than they were.'

He added: 'I love working here — it's constructive. You know what the job entails. I have my conscience here.'

His 'conscience', he explained, was Dee, who started as a practice nurse in Ballasalla in 1990.

Together they formed an impressive team. Dee, 52, prodding him in certain directions at appropriate moments.

She said: 'The beauty of the job is it is very much a community thing — patients are asking about when is your daughter getting married? It really is a community thing. It's lovely.'

So how can they leave a community like this?

There are a few compelling reasons and Dr Taggart is actually following the advice he would give one of his patients.

'I have had health issues, it focuses the mind,' he said.

'I was off for a couple of spells. The staff and patients were very supportive.'

The couple retire today (Friday).

They have three children. Jenny, 26, is training to be a GP and is currently at Broadgreen Hospital in Liverpool. She is getting married in the summer. Rachael, 28, is a nanny in London but is coming back to live in the Island, and David, 21, is at Liverpool University studying civil and structural engineering.

But what of Norman, the skeleton dangling in Dr Taggart's office as a harsh reminder of what lies beneath?

He'll relocate to Jenny's surgery, when she becomes a GP in the UK.
Ever loyal to the community, the only anecdote Dr Taggart — or rather his conscience Dee — would allow to be printed concerns the doctor himself.

'In the very early days when I was on call the ambulance pulled up outside the old surgery, there was a woman in labour. I got in and pushed Joan Quine out of the way, she was the district nurse who delivered me!

'I was a home delivery. Fools rush in ...'

• report from iomtoday.co.im 01-05-08