South East Wales Faculty News
Dr Jane Fenton-May FRCGP
Faculty Chair (elected 2006 – 2009)
Dr Jane Fenton-May was
born in Paris and brought up in Germany, near London and then
Edinburgh. She did pre-clinical studies in St Andrews and
then clinical in Cardiff, Welsh School of Medicine. Her GP
training was in Newport and Dr Michael Wade, a founder member of
the RCGP was her trainer. He taught her to value the care of
the family and the importance of the psychosocial interaction of
the family in the health of the patient and take an interest in the
way that general medical services were delivered, encouraging her
to take MRCGP and to be an active member of the profession.
The Doctors Retainer Scheme provided a link
with the general practice as her 3 children grew up and she has
since worked as an assistant and locum in the South of Wales for
over 20 years. She now works as a salaried GP for RCT LHB.
In order to manage the continuation of her
professional career with a growing family, she started working in
medical genetics where she has developed an interest in muscular
dystrophy and worked with patients and their families who live with
genetic risk of further affected children and the burden of living
with debilitating multi-system diseases. Genetics is about
family medicine and fits well with general practice.
In the early 90’s she was involved with the
Women’s Group of the RCGP lead by the then President, Dr Lotte
Newman, which helped encourage women to be active in the
college. It was around this time she was elected to the
Assistant Honorary Secretary post and has been on the Faculty
executive since. She has been an active member of the RCGP
Virtual Genetic Group since its development commenting on relevant
documents.
Dr Fenton-May is interested in the management
of chronic disease and hopes to ensure that GPs become more aware
of the problems that face patients with disability. Design
for Life looks at development networks for chronic care and this
needs to involve general practice, appropriate training and
remuneration.