Moreton Medical Centre: Dr Pereira

Dr Albert Pereira (Male) DOB 15.6.68

M.B.Ch.B Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery (Liverpool 1991)

M.R.C.G.P. Member of Royal College of General Practitioners

D.R.C.O.G. Diploma Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

F.P.A. Diploma of the Faculty of Family Planning

So, the final Doc on the list, huh? Save the best till last I say!

Intrigued to know what I look like??? Well let me not tease you any longer. My name (Albert) may conjure an image of a bloke with a flat cap, but let me assure you that I am the youngest member of the GP team, and I modestly admit I see myself as the George Clooney of the practice! (I hope you will agree!?!)

I started life in my medical career at Liverpool University in the 80’s as a humble student and I vowed that my standards would never change. I would never fall into the materialistic trap that I saw so many fellow colleagues fall into. "No that won’t be me" and of course this still holds true. I mean doesn’t everyone have a flashy red sports car and designer underwear????

The car is a pretty sensitive subject for the guys because I’m living the dreams of their youth.

I’m sure they willed that bus to nudge into my wheel-arch which subsequently cost me the best part of a month’s salary to repair!

As you may have gathered, flashy sports car = no kids yet. My GP partners are extremely effective at family planning advice. Their formidable tales of sleepless nights and being eaten out of house and home is the most failsafe method of contraception I have yet encountered! Anyhow, I think we’ve missed the deadline for a millennium baby.

August 2004:

It’s been most hectic, tiring yet exhilarating and exciting few years of my life. The name of this roller coaster of experiences: FATHERHOOD!

I’m presently drying my hair (what hair you may be cheeky enough to ask!) while writing this, not because I’ve had a bath but because I’ve just bathed my two little kids!

The laws of physics have been turned on their head. Water seems to travel upwards, food sidewards and night has turned to day! Thankfully they are finally sleeping throughout the night, though having installed blackout blinds on the windows to prevent them waking at 5am, they are now terrified of the dark!

What other changes have I noticed in my life?

Radio 1 sounds increasingly like an alien transmission whereas Radio 2 sounds reassuringly familiar; quite frightening really, when I so clearly remember berating my father for listening to Radio 2 ‘fogey music’ when I was a lad. Fortunately, my kids have not yet begun to criticise my musical tastes. Staying in touch with the younger generation means singing along to the Tweenies and knowing the names of all the Teletubbies! (I have to secretly admit I am now a ‘Bob the Builder fan’ - sad!)

Gone are the days of sports cars and hatchbacks. I’m now the proud owner of a sedate family saloon, “the perfectly crafted New VW Passat” whose interior has been re-crafted by the two little ones. Crumbs and raisins embedded within the velour of the back seats would have freaked me out a couple of years back. However now it is simply a relief to be able to identify the original colour of the upholstery.

For those of you reading this account and quickly growing off the idea of having kids, let me say that watching children develop is a fascinating and wonderful experience. It is easy to describe the things that wind you up. But having children is a definite privilege. These little people do something to amaze you everyday (amazement = fascination or horror!)

So, how about my life as a GP?

I can finally navigate my way around Moreton without having to use a map, having only been at the practice for 9 years!

Regrettably, people no longer greet me with “Surely you’re too young to be a doctor!”

I have started to find long lost bits of paper around my room dated 1996!

However there stacks of leaflets and documents that have accumulated over the years – you know how it is; you throw something away and need it the next day!

To deal with a lack of paper storage I’ve taken to storing junk on the computer instead.

Thank goodness for the electronic age! Ooops….Wrong button…….CRASH!!!!!!

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