Meet a Specialist - Professor Victor Patterson

What attracted you to go into medicine?

I went to University to do Biochemistry but the thought of grinding up rats’ livers for the rest of my life didn’t appeal to me so I changed to medicine.  And I was really happy, especially once I got on the wards and saw real patients.

What branch of medicine are you in?

I’m a neurologist so I see people where the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and muscles may be causing problems.  As you can imagine there is a lot to go wrong there, so I see something new every day.  There are not many medical specialties where you can say that.

Why did you get involved in telemedicine?

Serendipidity.  In 1999 we were trying to do a research project to show the beneficial effect of a neurology consultation for patients with neurological symptoms admitted to hospital as an emergency. We didn’t have enough beds to do this, but we did have Europe’s only Professor of Telemedicine (Professor Richard Wootton) and he agreed to help us provide consultations at rural hospitals on a videolink. This worked remarkably well, and we later expanded the service to outpatients as well as inpatients.

Why did you get involved with the Trust?

This is a road to Damascus type story.  In 1999 when we were doing the project above, I was asked to provide neurology advice to the Trust. I agreed at once and asked what sort of videoconferencing equipment they used.  They told me not to be silly, where they worked people couldn’t afford equipment like that and anyway there were very few phone lines and that I would be using email.  I said don’t you be silly - neurology is much too difficult a subject to do by email!  So, we agreed that I would try, and over the next year I saw 12 exceptionally complex patients referred from Dr Fazlul Hoque at the Centre for the Rehabilitation and Paralysed in Bangladesh (CRP). He felt that the consultation had benefitted almost all the patients in some way.  Later on, I was able to visit CRP and see six of the patients face-to-face.  The diagnosis and management given by email was spot-on in five of the six and this convinced me that store-and-forward telemedicine was a really powerful tool in neurology. So, I started applying this in my NHS practice which was considerably less complicated, and this too was very successful.

Why do you think the Trust is important?

For three reasons: it helps a lot of poor patients throughout the world who would not have access to specialist care; it enables specialists to make a charitable contribution without leaving their office; and it’s organised incredibly simply.

Your most rewarding case?

A lady who was in a wheelchair with weakness who we were able to diagnose and treat, and who got back to normal.

How would you like people to help the Trust?

Give money and spread the word.