Dr Ben Chishick retired from Rye Medical Centre at the end of last month after 32 years as a GP in Rye and 38 years working in the NHS.
He trained at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School in London and at the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff where he qualified in 1978 winning the John Berry Haycraft Prize in Clinical Surgery.
He then worked as a junior hospital doctor in Cardiff for a year before moving to a post in The Accident Service at the newly built John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford in 1979. After that he joined the three year GP Training Scheme at Frimley Park Hospital near Camberley in Surrey working as a GP Registrar in Yateley Health Centre for a year. He came to Rye in 1984 and became a partner in the Postern Gate Surgery at the age of 31 when he replaced Dr Townsend.
In 1977 he joined the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) as a Surgeon Lieutenant and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 1984. He served for over 20 years in the RNR during which he was posted once to Hong Kong, twice to Gibraltar and three times to Naples where he ran the single-handed Tri-Service GP Clinic in the NATO Base just outside the city.
A few years after joining the Postern Gate practice in 1984 he became a GP Trainer, responsible for the training of 18 young GPs over a period of 20 years. These young doctors are now in practices all over the UK and one is a GP in Harlem in Holland.
In 1992 he joined the Surrey & Sussex Immediate Medical Care Scheme and was a volunteer first responder for Sussex Ambulance Service attending accidents and emergencies for 23 years until December 2015.
A member of Rye Round Table from 1984-1991, he is looking forward to spending more time in his garden, cultivating his allotment, playing the organ, skiing, cycling and travelling.
He said: “It has been a privilege to work in Rye for the main part of my career in the NHS and I am very pleased to be retiring from the practice knowing that it is in very good hands, run by an exceptional team, in the finest Medical Centre in the country.
“I am delighted that Dr Chiuia has been appointed to join the practice and I am very pleased that he is taking over my list of patients”
(Source: Rye Medical Centre)
Photo: Rye Medical Centre