New Medical Director
Meet Dr. Ian Cairns
“It’s wonderful on the Island!!!”, they told me when I applied for the post here as Medical Director of the Earl Mountbatten Hospice… and they were right!!! I am very pleased to join such an enthusiastic, committed team which provides such a fantastic service of Specialist Palliative Care for the Isle of Wight.
The In-patient Hospice provides a wonderful focus for all of this, and links with the other Hospice services which, in my opinion are so important; the Day Hospice Unit, the Macmillan Nursing service (which operates both in the community, and within St Mary’s Hospital), the Marie Curie nursing service, and the Hospice Extended Care Team. This all means that patients can easily access the care they need, wherever they happen to be, be it at home, in nursing or residential care, in hospital, or in the hospice itself.
Perhaps I can use this opportunity to introduce myself; I was born in Southern Rhodesia and educated there. I moved on to Dundee for medical school, and having started my career as a Medical Officer in the R.A.F., went on to become a single-handed general practitioner in rural Cumbria.
During this time, I found that I had a special interest in palliative medicine, and developed a “Hospice-at-Home” service in the area. All of this led me to give up my practice in 1999, and to go for specialist training, once more back in Dundee. This was completed in 2003, when I became a consultant.
Outside of medicine, my main current interests are kiting and cycling. I am especially proud of having recently completed a 480 Km. cycle ride from Lake Titicaca to Manchu Picchu in Peru to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. The altitude (4250 metres), and terrain, made it quite the most difficult thing I have ever accomplished… though I am already finding that even the Isle of Wight has some testing cycling hills around it!
Dr. Ian Johnson retires
Ian Johnson indicated his wish to retire with a leaving date of February 2006. Unfortunately, with a shortage of Consultants in Palliative Care it was impossible to find a successor for that date. However, Ian Cairns has now been appointed and commenced on the 1st November 2006 allowing Ian Johnson to officially retire on the 30th November.
Ian Johnson has been the Medical Director of the Hospice since April 1996 and during that time he has led the medical team through the various changes including especially the widening of the diseases that the Hospice now accepts. It was through his foresight that we moved away from purely cancer and two other diseases to providing a fully comprehensive Palliative Care Service. During his time at the Hospice Ian has cared for nearly 5,000 patients and their families and his clinical skills and the way that he has approached matters with the patients has been of great benefit to them.
Ian has, for a number of years, had a wish to use his medical skills within the developing world and he will now have the opportunity of doing this through the charity Salt of the Earth which he is very involved with and through other agencies. We also hope that Ian will be available to return to the Hospice from time to time to act as locum during Ian Cairn’s holidays. We all send Ian our very best wishes for his future and we hope that he and Marianne (his wife) will be able to spend the time that they wish on their various ventures in the developing world.
