General practitioner John Rees feels he is a fortunate man. A GP partner at Llanfair surgery, situated in a small rural community in Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, he says, “I feel lucky to have known and been the GP for five generations of local families.
“Many of our patients’ families have lived in the area for well over a hundred years. It’s lovely to think you’re seeing the great great grandchildren of patients who you looked after many years ago.”
His practice is the only one he has ever worked at as a qualified GP—“something that rarely happens these days.”
“In some respects my working life is similar to GP John Sassall, in John Berger’s A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor. I feel fortunate to work in the same place, love working in Llandovery, and still really enjoy general practice,” he says.
His good fortune is not just confined to his medical career. “My wife Kerry has been my rock, through thick and thin, and our close family is the most important aspect of our lives. All my four children are involved in healthcare, and I’m very proud of them.”
Rees’s decision to go into medicine was made as a teenager growing up in the Welsh market town of Llanelli—“no other career really appealed to me.” And it was the opportunity to build long standing connections—with not only patients, but also their families—that first drew Rees towards a career in general practice. Originally, however, he had planned to specialise in radiotherapy.
“After my medical training, and a year as a house officer at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in 1982, I started working as a senior house officer in the radiotherapy department—a job I loved. During that time, I realised the importance of connecting with relatives as well as patients—of listening to their fears and trying to reassure them, and for them to feel heard—and the enormous difference this can make to people’s lives.
“I learnt the importance of not just treating the vulnerable patients and their illness, but supporting the whole person, including their families. The need to build those family connections prompted me to leave radiotherapy and to train in general practice.”
Rees moved back to Wales, and to Llandovery, where, after finishing his training, he became a GP partner at the local surgery in 1986. As he built up his practice he continued to be inspired by the lessons learnt from the role models he worked for as a houseman. “I was inspired by the charismatic surgeon John Griffiths, who was Llanelli born—you could see the faith patients had in him—and my senior registrar, Dudley Sinnett, who had the ability to connect and form an instant rapport with all his patients, whatever their background, and who became professor of breast surgery.”
As a programme director in Carmarthen, he has delivered GP specialty training for over 20 years. Rees also hopes to inspire students. “I try to reassure them, particularly those who are feeling vulnerable.
“As a ‘critical friend’ to trainees, some of my feedback may feel quite ruthless, until they appreciate my humour, but it’s always meant in a kind way.” He also talks to students about “the importance of connecting with patients and being kind to them.”
“I remind them that patients want kindness, and that kindness doesn’t cost a thing.”
Rees has two other responsibilities. He heads the new rapid diagnosis clinic in the district general hospital, working closely with secondary care consultants to see patients referred with potential malignancies. “Primary and secondary care need to work well together. It benefits us all, including our patients. Everyone is doing their best—and it’s challenging, presently.”
He also works as a doctor adviser for Canopi, an organisation that supports healthcare professionals struggling with depression and anxiety. “The service is making an enormous difference, and it’s a privilege to hear people’s stories and to support them.”
Outside work he watches cricket and rugby, sings in a choir, and spends time with his family—“my family is the heart of me,” he says. As yet, he has no plans to retire. “I’ll carry on as long as I still enjoy my work and my patients make me laugh and smile. I still love being a GP. I hope that there’s mutual respect between my patients and me. I feel very lucky.”
Nominated by Clare McCoubrey
As a medical student, Dr Rees was an inspiration and a focus of aspiration for me. This has only grown in the nine years I have known him.
He arranged for me to do some shadowing at his GP practice. I was not only touched by his immense kindness to me during that time, but have seldom been more in awe of a GP.
His practice in rural Wales is one of the few that remain where the “family doctor” is just that. He knows his patients and their families, and often has seen them all through life’s ups and downs. He taught me the importance of listening to patients, and to be kind. This applies not only to patients, but also to colleagues and collaborators.