Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows

Alan Martin Driscoll was born in Plymouth in 1937. He had a medical background as his father was the chief pharmacist to the Royal Naval Hospital at Haslar. His mother was a piano teacher. After studying medicine at London University and training at St George’s Hospital, he qualified MB,BS in 1961 and passed the conjoint examination the same year. After various house appointments he made the decision to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology and trained at St Thomas’ Hospital, where he became a lecturer. He passed the membership of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG) in 1968 and the fellowship of the college in 1969. In 1981 he was appointed consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology to the Guildford group of hospitals and passed the fellowship of the RCOG. He was popular with the staff and meticulous in the care of his patients. Always on the lookout for new techniques, he was responsible for introducing an early Sinclair computer into the department, demonstrating its advantages for the diagnosis and treatment in the more complicated cases. When young Alan had been an enthusiastic sportsman, playing football, rugby, tennis and sailing. As he grew older he became more interested in art and acquired a set of playing cards, all of the 56 painted by different contemporary artists. He spent a great deal of time arranging their reproduction and display and also building up a fine collection of other works by the same artists. Retiring early from the NHS, he continued with private practice for another ten years. In the early 1970s he had met and married Caroline (a Nightingale nurse) and they had two children, Martin and Harriet. When he discontinued even the private practice, he and Caroline moved to Norfolk to be near Harriet and her children. He died from a myocardial infarction on 23 August 2021.