Dr John Mason: Dr John Mason, the first president of the Irish College of General Practitioners, was one of the leading family doctors in the State.
A pioneer of many new developments in family practice, he was one of a group of doctors who founded the Eastern Regional Training Programme for General Practice in 1975.
He worked as a family doctor for 38 years in Cabinteely and Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin. An excellent diagnostician, he was a kind and gentle listener who his patients said never seemed to be in a hurry, one of nature's gentlemen.
In 2002 Mason was appointed as a medical member of the Residential Institutions Redress Board under the chairmanship of Judge Seán O'Laoire. He served on the board until his death.
He was born in Plymouth in 1931, where his father Jack was a GP, before moving to Bristol when John was nine. Educated at Prior Park College, Bath, he entered University College Cork to study medicine in 1950. He captained the rugby team in 1955 and 1956.
After a year of general medical training in Bristol, he took up a post as medical officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This was in the early days of structured family medicine residency training in Canada, of which the air force medical training was part. During this time he learned to fly and took part in a number of emergency missions. In 1962 he moved to the University of Toronto to complete his residency training and was due to take up a GP post in Guelph, Ontario, when his father became ill. John returned to Bristol to take over the practice for a year.
By then he was married to Maeve, a biochemistry graduate of UCC, and they decided to return to Ireland in 1964 where he set up in general practice in the developing area of Granitefield/Johnstown in south Co Dublin. It grew to provide a service to patients from a wide area and is now a six-doctor practice. One of the partners now is John's son, Fergus, as well as Dr Michael Flynn, president of the Irish College of General Practitioners.
The Johnstown medical centre was one of the first examples of a purpose-built GP surgery in the Republic. From 1964 it had designated rooms for a practice nurse and minor surgical procedures. John Mason ensured that medical records were thoroughly developed and systematically used.
The practice was one of the first to use counsellors in the treatment of common psychological disorders. Mason was one of the early advocates of patient self-care for back problems; he trained in the Cyriax method of back manipulation and offered his skills in this area to patients referred by GP colleagues throughout south Co Dublin. He also saw patients in St Gabriel's hospital for back manipulation and joint injections.
In the early years of practice he carried out obstetric deliveries at St Gabriel's and St Michael's private hospitals. He had admitting rights to both hospitals, where he looked after patients with acute illnesses. In addition, he acted as a medical officer to the National Rehabilitation Hospital for many years. Mason also held specialist qualifications in occupational medicine and acted as occupational physician to a number of industries in the Dún Laoghaire area.
As first president of the Irish College of General Practitioners in 1984, he was a key figure in moving general practice to a firmer specialist footing. Before this he was awarded a fellowship at the Royal College of General Practitioners for his work in developing a formal framework for the training of future general practitioners. As chairman of the steering committee of the Eastern Regional GP Vocational Training Scheme, he ensured it grew from its tentative beginnings in 1975 to one of the principal GP training bodies in the Republic today.
John Mason was a specialist trainer who took a third-year trainee from the programme into his practice every year. He was also a tutor for undergraduate students of Trinity College Dublin.
He served on the Medical Council for two terms during a particularly onerous time for the council. He was a member of the Postgraduate Medical and Dental Board and was appointed to the Kennedy Commission which was set up to examine improvements to hospital care.
Whether in the surgery or on committee work, he was noted for his efficiency. Both an idealist and a pragmatist, he remained apolitical, avoided vested interests and was renowned for bringing meetings to a suitable conclusion.
John was deeply committed to his family of seven children and to his wife Maeve, with whom he shared interests in sailing and music. He raced regularly in Dublin Bay with his partners Brian Glynn and Michael Flynn in their boat, Viking. After sailing, rugby was a great passion. He was a keen supporter of university rugby, especially when Trinity College and UCC played, as well as an avid attender at international matches. He was a regular golfer at Killiney Golf Club.
Family holidays were spent in west Cork, island-hopping between Schull and Baltimore. He enjoyed walking on Banna beach in Co Kerry. He loved to bring his grandchildren to the cinema. He is survived by Maeve, daughters Maureen, Susan and Una and sons Fergus, Maurice, Joey and Rory.
John Mason: born June 3rd, 1931; died September 10th, 2005.