A MUCH-LOVED family doctor is today celebrating 25 years at a Burton-based practice.
Dr Jeremy Lockwood started work at Stapenhill Medical Centre in Fyfield Road on September 6, 1986.
The senior partner has since been a mainstay of the 8,000-patient practice and its 2,000-user satellite surgery in Main Street, Rosliston.
“When we joined, it was traditional to stay in a practice for life and he has honoured that tradition in a big way,” said colleague Dr Philip Needham.
“He’s thoroughly committed to the people of Stapenhill and Rosliston and is a genuinely nice guy.
“All of the patients love him and want to see him above everybody else. He’s a real character.” Dr Lockwood marked his achievement with past and present workmates on Saturday with a meal at the Manzil Indian restaurant in Guild Street, Burton.
Staff presented the Ashby Road resident with a ukulele and case after taking advice from his wife, Patricia.
Dr Lockwood enjoys playing the instrument in his spare time, as well as pursuing interests in fossil hunting, scuba diving and poetry.
He will celebrate his achievement again today with a lunchtime buffet at the surgery in Stapenhill — despite holding morning and afternoon clinics and being on-call throughout the day.
Born in Stafford and raised in Hoar Cross and the Uttoxeter area, Dr Lockwood was educated in Walsall before training at Liverpool Medical School.
He worked in hospital-based orthopaedics in the city before taking up his GP position in Stapenhill.
Dr Lockwood gained a masters degree in general practice from Birmingham University in the 1990s for studies in pain management in the elderly.
He was also instrumental in setting up the Burton fund-holding group in the 1990s under a previous re-organisation.
Dr Lockwood is now part of a trio which runs the GP training scheme at Burton’s Queen’s Hospital.
“He’s very well known and well respected by colleagues,” said Dr Needham.
Dr Lockwood is in his mid-50s and has two daughters in their 20s — Kate, a medical student in Bristol, and Pip, who is currently considering her career options.
