Dr Stirling Pugh retires after 30 years at Musgrove Park Hospital

Members of staff recently came together to celebrate the career of long-serving consultant gastroenterologist Dr Stirling Pugh as he retired last month.

Stirling has actually been a doctor for 45 years, having first qualified in 1979, and in a move that’s unheard of these days, he worked as a locum before even qualifying.

His student doctor career took him to Sheffield, where he completed his undergraduate, then London for his PhD, before he took on his senior and specialist training in Cardiff.

Stirling began his long stint at Musgrove Park Hospital, which is run by Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, on 1 July 1994 as a consultant gastroenterologist, and then spent the latter years of his career performing endoscopies.

“I’ve been fortunate to work in some really good hospitals over my career,” he said.

“Although I was asked to work in teaching hospitals like Cardiff, I wanted to practise in what I’d call a ‘frontline first division’ district general hospital, where we could handle most cases – so that’s what I did.

“I’ve not been disappointed with my choice, as although every hospital has its challenges, Musgrove Park Hospital seems to deal with them much better than many others. The fact I’ve stayed here 30 years must mean something.

“During my time at the hospital, I’ve taken on a lot of roles, including cancer lead, endoscopy lead, and also clinical director for medicine for a few years.

Dr Stirling Pugh with a colleague (Image: Contributed)

“Over all the years though, I’m particularly proud of how our gastroenterology and endoscopy department has grown, and I’m honoured to say that I was one of the first therapeutic endoscopists here, and now we’re a magnificent endoscopy hospital, which I’m pleased about.

“We also have strong nutrition, inflammatory bowel disease and liver disease services.”

Stirling has certainly seen his fair share of change in the NHS, including the type of operations offered at Musgrove Park Hospital.

He continued: “The practice of medicine has changed a lot during my time, as when I first came here, I worked closely with a colleague who has also recently retired – Mr Ian Eyre-brook – and he would do the cancer esophagectomies and pancreatic cancer surgery.

“We’re still able to offer a fantastic diagnostic service and a therapeutic endoscopy service, and the team is looking forward to moving into the brand-new surgical centre next year.

“One of the things I’m proud of is how I was always very determined to appoint the very best candidates for the job, even if I thought they were more talented than me and would pose me with challenges in a positive way!

“But I’m most proud of my fellow colleagues, doctors and nurses, and while there are way too many to name individually, they’ve all been fantastic over the years, and it shows that we’ve got succession planning right.

“I stepped back from my role as a hands-on frontline consultant a few years ago and I’m now looking forward to being clinically fully retired, safe in the knowledge that I’m leaving the department in very good hands, as our gastroenterology consultants really are top class.

“As I moved towards retirement, I’ve been gradually cutting back on the things I do – I’m a bit like the Cheshire Cat, in all that’ll be left of me, is my smile!

“I haven’t got any post-retirement plans, even though everyone asks. I’ve worked out that during my career I’ve lived in 14 different houses across five different cities, but we’ve lived in our current house for 29 years.

“However, this means I’ve built up a lot of stuff which I need to sort out, as boring as that might sound…and my wife and I are looking forward to travelling of course too.”