Graham Lockerbie
Graham Lockerbie
Graham Lockerbie has a bit of a shameful secret, for a Glaswegian: he was born in England.
“My father was running an iron works in County Durham when I was born. I have very vague memories of England. From my perspective it was a bit of a catastrophe when we moved back to Glasgow when I was five – no one ever let me forget that I was born south of the border!”
After attending a state primary school until the age of 8, Graham did an exam to gain entry to the High School of Glasgow, one of the top schools in the country at the time, and got in.
“I remember that Scottish education was very strict and we received beltings on a regular basis!” He laughs. “School never felt like hard work to me because I have a very good memory which is image driven and this meant that I was very good at exams. I’d have struggled more these days with modular work as I was really a lazy student!”
Although at one of the best schools in the city, Graham said that he still had to be street smart in the highly segregated community of Glasgow.
“You had to know what areas were safe and which weren’t,” he said. “There was no racial issue, but there were no-go areas depending on whether you were Protestant or Catholic. There were gang wars going on at the time. It makes me thankful for my children as I can see how privileged they are to grow up in a rural place. It definitely influenced my decision to move to the South West.”
After a successful career at the High School he went to Dundee University to study medicine.
“I always wanted to be a doctor, but possibly not for the right reasons. I remember that Doctor in the House was on television and I thought it looked like fun! I spent six years at Dundee, my first time away from home. It was genuinely one of the best times in my life. I left home quite young and I got to grow up in a relatively safe environment at University away from my parents’ prying eyes!“
“I’ve always enjoyed the clinical side of medicine, interacting with people, the challenge of working out what is wrong with people and helping them. It’s a big buzz when you get it right.”
After leaving University, Graham worked in Shrewsbury, Oldham, Barnstaple and Wales, building his skills and experience. He saw that his future was in General Practice.
“There was no hierarchical structure in General Practice at that time. GP Surgeries were then and are now individual businesses and you have quite a bit of autonomy and I enjoyed taking a leading role.”
He applied for a role in Dartmouth working with Dr Bann, and began working in Dartmouth in 1985.
“I saw an advertisement for a part-time partner and in the interview I convinced Dr Bann to take me on as a full time partner and grow the practice. I was interviewed in the summer time and decided it was the place for me – it’s an easy place to fall in love with.”
The town’s two surgeries were based opposite each other around Victoria Square in Victoria Road. For seven years they worked in competition, with Drs Lockerbie & Bann growing their patient numbers.
Then in 1992 the two surgeries merged – Graham saw the changes coming in the health service and worked hard to make sure Dartmouth was not left behind. It meant he took a leading role in ‘commissioning’ or working with other practices to commission healthcare at a cheaper rate.
“We weren’t happy with the waiting times at Torbay hospital for hip replacements,” he said, “So we approached a hospital in Ealing in London that would get hip replacements done in eight weeks. People forget that in the NHS back then you would wait two years for an operation.
“Then the Labour Government came to power in 1997 and changed the system again. We had seen this coming and developed a consortium of doctors in the South Hams. We anticipated the structure Labour brought in later on, (Primary Care groups) - so we were ahead of the curve. It was pragmatic and worked well.”
This Primary Care Group chose Graham as its chairman and then became a Primary Care Trust, of which Graham was Executive Chair. When all the trusts in Devon merged, Graham was on the Executive Committee. He had spent more than a decade at the head of NHS organisation in the South West. A new challenge beckoned.
“I wanted to move on and do something new, so I applied for the new Medical Director role at the Devon PCT and subsequently at NHS England in the South West. It took a lot of thought but it was the right thing for me,” he said.
So what does he see as the future of the NHS, seeing as he is going to be playing a big role in how it develops.
“There has been a lot of upheaval and I think we have a few more years of bedding in the new relationships and systems still to come. But I strongly believe that you can provide better care whilst still making savings – it sounds strange but it is true. My belief is we can achieve better results for patients and I’m going to continue to work towards that.”
First published By The Dart May 2014