The Johnston – Kennedy Era

THE SURGEONS I first met Mr (as he was then) George Johnston and Mr Terence Kennedy in the old Wards 5 and 6 in the Royal Victoria Hospital (now demolished) 2 when I was a student. They had strikingly different personalities-Mr Kennedy was more than a little daunting but both were constantly stimulating and renowned teachers. The teaching ward rounds revealed surgical cases in the true sense of the word 'general', ranging from open cholecystectomy to various vagotomies (both de novo and redo), fundoplications, colectomies, trauma, breast cancer and much more. In terms of trauma, it was the height of 'The Troubles', a curious euphemism for the times. Trauma of every description was present in the ward, but most common were gunshot wounds of the abdomen accompanied, not infrequently, by a police and army guard outside the ward. Other cases involved jaundiced patients, some having undergone hepatico-jejunostomy for bile duct problems. There was the frequent presence of patients with oesophageal varices with their dramatic haematemeses. The Registrars of the day were held in high esteem and always seemed to be " around ". I cannot recall many rotas and certainly no European Directives on working hours! I next met Mr Kennedy when he examined me in Finals. I had a nervous moment or two until we got past the first few minor cases. Subsequently, I returned as House Officer, Senior House Officer and Senior Registrar and I enjoyed all of these times enormously. At that time, Sister Cherry ran the ward with firmness (and fairness) and the mid-morning cup of tea with the Registrars was a golden opportunity to hear the stories about Consultants of yesteryear and in particular their previous chiefs. Perhaps we have lost something with the new shift systems and less time available for getting to know junior staff, particularly the House Officers. I recall Mr Kennedy (I still cannot call him by his first name!) permitting me as a Senior Registrar, to do four consecutive highly selective vagotomies on one of his lists. 'The Troubles' were ongoing and, each night, there were several gunshot wounds, usually managed by the Senior Registrars. During this era, Senior Registrars worked a virtual one-in-one rota and gained an enormous amount of experience. Many from this era are now retiring or have already retired!! In the 970s and 980s, honours fell upon these two surgeons, ranging from the Hunterian Professorship (Mr …