Dr David Unwin FRCGP is part of the Norwood Surgery in Southport where he has worked since 1986. Because of his interests in both communication and diabetes he was made Royal College of General Practice National Champion for Collaborative Care and Support Planning in Obesity & Diabetes in 2015.
This March he was the proud National winner of the NHS Innovator Of The Year Award for research into lifestyle changes & working with patients’ personal health goals as an alternative to drug therapy in type 2 diabetes –so that his GP practice spends approximately £40,000 per year less than expected on drugs for diabetes and insulin.
He is particularly interested in investigating a lower carb diet as a possible alternative to medication in type 2 diabetes and other lifestyle modifications to improve health. As part of this he has also published research into improving liver function and blood pressure by reducing dietary carbohydrate, especially sugar intake.
1) What is your current position?
Senior partner of a six doctor GP practice. Trustee of our wonderful local hospice Queenscourt also trustee of The Three Owls Bird Sanctuary that manages five small nature reserves.
2) What are your proudest achievements?
Personal: Three thriving offspring, a happy wife and three grandchildren who love their ‘Papa’ Professional: I hope the community I have cared for over thirty years now have benefitted from a GP practice that is caring and well run. I was made a fellow of the RCGP after personally training over 20 young GPs
3) What inspires you?
Patients’ resilience and humour. Recently an old lady said to me “ten years ago Dr Unwin you put ‘old-age’ down as the cause of death for my husband, he was 84. I am 92 now, what ever will you put on mine?’ I answered ‘genuine antique!!’ we had such a laugh over that.
4) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?
Mrs Thatcher’s administration started not trusting professionals and so ushered in an age of filling in reports and ‘proving’ we were value for money by measuring things. Some of the best aspects of medicine like kindness, support and being a good listener cannot be measured.
5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?
My wife Jen is a clinical health psychologist specialising in the role of hope and how it improves outcomes for patients with chronic conditions. I have come to understand that hopes and personal health goals can be vital in motivating people to change behaviour to lose weight or get fit.
6) What is the best aspect about your current role?
Continuity of care is the most precious aspect of general practice. Patients really appreciate the fact that I remember their case details and personal background –so they ‘don’t have to start from the beginning’ every time. Trust between doctor and patient is a mutual thing that develops over time to the advantage of both.
7) And the worst?
The world has become risk averse and there is a culture of blame in the NHS which means many work in an atmosphere of fear and so start to practice defensive medicine ‘just in case’ This isn’t always in the best interests of patients –for example giving out too many antibiotics.
8) What are your long term goals?
I’m 57 so my goal is to stay healthy and have a long term!
9) If you were Prime Minister, what is one aspect would you change?
I was delighted at the ‘sugar tax’ on soft drinks. For me this is just a start as I am convinced that ‘snack foods’ are contributing to the epidemic of obesity which is doing terrible harm to the nation and creating suffering I see on a daily basis. Sweets, crisps, biscuits & chocolate bars are not proper food.
10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?
A young Charles Darwin, he and I share a passion and joy in observing the natural world. A guilty pleasure is that I’m fascinated by beetles and moths.
