Dr Gerhard Walters (m)
MBChB (Cape Town 1993) MB ChB DFSRH
My wife Elizabeth and I moved to the IOW from East Grinstead, West Sussex in 2006. We are dual citizens of the United Kingdom and the Republic of South Africa. We have no children. Since relocating to the IOW we adopted a cat with the very “original” name of Kitty. Needless to say with all the attention she is getting she thinks she rules the roost! Leisure time is spent gardening, cycling, kayaking and travelling.
I did my pre-graduate medical as well as post graduate GP training in South Africa. With moving to the United Kingdom I also did post graduate UK based GP training, mainly as an introduction to the inner workings of the NHS at primary care level. I have a healthy interest in all disciplines of medicine hence the decision to be a generalist i.e. General Practitioner. I think I would really get bored if I had to restrict myself to one speciality only, having to deal with the same type of pathology on a day in / day out basis. Despite within the practice I am the clinical lead for respiratory (lung) diseases, in particular Asthma and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). I offer the following special skills i.e. minor surgery (e.g. excision of skin lesions + “lumps and bumps”, nail removals etc), intra-articular + intra-lesional steroid injections as well as the insertion of sub-dermal implants and intra-uterine devices (coils).
My personal view of a General Practitioners role in current day society is that we are the managers of people’s health risks. In doing so, we are the gate keepers to secondary and tertiary health care. I believe that mutual respect / trust and above all good communication between GP and patient are essential ingredients to function at an optimal level and achieve good outcomes in this regard.
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