Dr Bruce Lindsay Taylor
Known as: Bruce
14/04/1955 to 22/01/2024
Place of birth: Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland
Nationality: British
CRN: 551582
Education and qualifications
|
General education |
Perth Junior Academy (1960-2); Brechin High School (1962-73); University of St Andrews (1973-6); University of Manchester (1976-9) |
|---|---|
|
Primary medical qualification(s) |
MBChB, Manchester, 1979 |
|
Initial Fellowship and type |
FFARCS by Examination |
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Year of Fellowship |
1984 |
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Other qualification(s) |
BSc (MedSci), University of St Andrews, 1976 |
Professional life and career
Postgraduate career
Bruce was House Surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary (08/1979-01/1980) and House Physician at Bury General Hospital (02/1980-07/1980), before moving to Bristol where he was Demonstrator in Anatomy and SHO in A&E and Orthopaedics (08/1980-07/1981). He passed the FRCS primary examination (04/1981), but after discussion with Professor C. Prys-Roberts, began training in anaesthesia in Gloucester and Cheltenham (10/1981-09/1982) where he much enjoyed his first ICU experience. He completed his UK training in anaesthesia and intensive care in Southampton, Cambridge, Exeter and Bristol (10/1982-01/1989). During this time, he accepted the opportunity to undertake an exchange year in Brisbane (03/1985-05/1986), which demonstrated the benefits of the formalised intensive care medicine training scheme in Australia. While in Queensland, he spent time working with the Flying Surgeon Service at Longreach and learned to fly. Subsequently, he returned to Australia as Senior Registrar in Paediatric Intensive Care Medicine at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital (02/1989-01/1990) and Locum Staff Specialist in Intensive Care at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane (02/1990-06/1990), obtaining Fellowship of the Australia & New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (FANZCA) and Fellowship of the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (FJFICM).
He was appointed Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at Portsmouth Hospitals (06/1990), where he was responsible for developing the intensive care unit at St. Mary’s Hospital. He was later also awarded an Honorary Consultant post in paediatric intensive care medicine at Southampton University Hospital Trust in recognition of his support for the establishment of the regional paediatric ICU there. Ill health forced Bruce’s early retirement in 2012.
Professional interests and activities
Bruce contributed long hours to the care of patients in Portsmouth, many owing their lives to his persistent care. During the daytime, he was initially primarily responsible for the clinical care of patients in the intensive care unit at St. Mary’s Hospital and for those receiving assisted ventilation on the renal unit there. When on duty at night and weekends, he also covered the care of patients in the intensive care unit at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth. He became lead consultant in paediatric intensive care medicine in Portsmouth in 1997 and worked with the National Steering Group for Paediatric Intensive Care to develop the regional paediatric intensive care service at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust. To ensure that appropriate standards were maintained, he was involved in the development of comprehensive training programmes for non-paediatric staff caring for sick children.
Bruce held an extraordinary number of regional and national positions. He was heavily involved with the Intensive Care Society (ICS) as Council Member (2003-12); Editor of the Journal of the Intensive Care Society (2004-7); Chairman of the ICS Standards Committee (2004-7); Honorary Secretary (2008-10) and President (2011-12). Amongst his other commitments, he was an Examiner for the Primary FRCS examination, Royal College of Surgeons of England (1997-2002); Member of both the Intercollegiate Board for Training in Intensive Care Medicine and Intercollegiate Committee for Training in Paediatric Intensive Care Medicine; Chairman of the UK Department of Health’s Critical Care Contingency Planning Group and Department of Health Division of Emergency Preparedness, focused on the planning for pandemic flu and other national health threats (2005-12).
In 2012 he was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Honorary Membership of the Intensive Care Society.
Other biographical information
Bruce met his wife Claire, an intensive care nurse at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, in 1986. They married in 1994 and had two sons and a daughter (Alex, Christopher and Lily). Bruce loved music, playing bass guitar and fiddle in the band, EMD (Emergency Manoeuvres in the Dark), and contributed to several medical revues. His children inherited his musical abilities and recorded a version of his favourite song, Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’, as a gift for his retirement. By 04/2024 it had been viewed 194,000 times on Alex’s YouTube Channel.
Bruce has always been known for his perception, remarkable articulation of language, and sharp sense of humour, but his diagnosis of Semantic Variant Primary Progressive Aphasia in 2012, a rare young-onset frontotemporal dementia, forced his early retirement from a job he loved so much.
Author and sources
Author:
Robert Julian Palmer
Sources and comments:
Bruce’s curriculum vitae, his own account of his career, and contributions from his wife Claire and son Alex.