Academic Writing

My most significant work has been a series of three book length texts, working towards a coherent philosophy of healthcare; starting with general practice but moving towards a philosophy relevant to the whole of healthcare. Links to these can be found below:

What is good general practice? A philosophical study of the concept of high quality medical care

.Occas Pap R Coll Gen Pract. 1994 Jul;(65):i-viii, 1-55.


Towards a philosophy of general practice: a study of the virtuous practitioner

Occas Pap R Coll Gen Pract. 1999 Apr;(78):iii-vii, 1-69.


A Flourishing Practice?

 Publ RCGP  London 2014


To save readers having to scroll down a long list I have divided  the rest of my publications into the various subject areas listed below. You can access the references,with links  where possible to download the papers, on separate pages by clicking on the titles below.  Where possible I have put a link to an electronic copy of the paper. Where the title is not underlined I cannot do this at present, but if you have difficulty in accessing these please email me.


Virtue Ethics

The trilogy above work towards a philosophy based on the concepts of flourishing and virtue. The papers on this page also contribute  in various ways to this project.


Medical Reports

These papers deal with the moral and epistemological issues raised by requests for clinical information to serve the interests of third parties


Other issues in Medical Philosophy

A miscellaneous collection of articles on a variety of aspects of medical ethics and medical epistemology


Medical Education

Papers on undergraduate medical education, GP training and continuing education for GPs


International Primary Care Development

In 1992 I was appointed the RCGP St Petersburg fellow. This led to a decade in which a significant amount of my time was devoted to helping health professionals in Russia and other ex-communist countries develop their health service and their medical education. These publications document some of this work.


Clinical Aspects of UK Primary Care

For thirty years I was a practising GP in the NHS in England. These papers deal with various aspects of this work


Reviews of books, videos etc

Although these are essentially ephemera some people seem still to want to read these