Patrick Sarsfield Byrne was born on 17 April 1913 in
Birkenhead, son of John Stephen Byrne, a butcher, and Marie Ann
Byrne. He attended St Edward's College, Liverpool, between
1923-1930, having won one of two Birkenhead Town scholarships. In
1930 he won a state scholarship, to study at the University of
Liverpool. In 1936 he graduated MB, ChB. During his time at
Liverpool he was awarded a gold medal in surgery, won several
clinical prizes, and was the first holder of a cup for debating.
Byrne never lost his debating skills and in later years this, along
with his political awareness, kept him ahead of his colleagues on
the many committees on which he sat. After a locum tenens post with
Dr Caldwell in August 1936, Byrne became a General Practitioner in
Milnthorpe, Westmorland, where he practised until he moved to
Manchester in 1968. He continued working as a General Practitioner,
although on a much smaller scale due to other commitments, until
his retirement in 1978, at the Darbishire House Teaching Health
Centre Byrne began lecturing at Manchester University Medical
School in 1965, and in 1968 became the Director of the newly
created Department of General Practice, the establishment of which
had been largely Byrne's responsibility. The pioneering work in
medical education, initiated in the Department, led his discipline
into education and training. He was the first to run courses for
general
practitioner teachers in 1966, and
worked at emphasising the needs of medical teachers themselves. His
last book, 'Doctors Talking to Patients' (1976), written jointly
with B.E.L. Long, was an extremely significant piece of work which
provided a scientific analysis based on a multitude of real
consultations in real general practice. At the time the Journal of
the Royal College of General Practitioners predicted that the book
would act as a springboard for new discoveries for the
doctor/patient relationship. In 1972 he became Chair at Manchester
and so the first Professor of General Practice in England. He
retired, and was made Professor Emeritus, in 1978.
Patrick Byrne was a founder member of the
College of General Practitioners in 1952 (the Royal College of
General Practitioners from 1967) and was Chairman, and Provost of
the North-West England Faculty, between 1966-68, and 1968-70
respectively. He Chaired the Education Committee of Council for six
years, between 1964-70, and was subsequently Vice-Chairman of
Council, 1965-66, and Chairman of the Board of Censors and Chief
Examiner, 1967-73. Byrne served as President of the College from
1973 to 1976.
Byrne was arguably one of the most influential general
practitioner authors in the world, producing a proliferation of
articles, published in a variety of medical journals, discussing
and evaluating the various teaching methods employed at the
Department of General Practice. He was a member of the College
Working Party which wrote the important work 'The Future General
Practitioner - Learning and Teaching' (1972, RCGP). He co-authored
several books, including 'The Assessment of Postgraduate Training
for General Practice' (1976) and 'The Assessment of Vocational
Training for General Practice, Reports from General Practice No.
17' (1976), both with J. Freeman, and 'Learning to Care' (1976),
written jointly with B.E.L. Long. In addition to this he co-edited
'A Handbook for Medical Treatment' (1976, Proctor and Byrne) and 'A
Textbook of Medical Practice' (1977, Fry et al.)
Byrne was also Chairman of the Working Party of the
Leeuwenhorst Group, which had a membership of 11 European
countries. The Group's aim was to create a definition of the role
of the General Practitioner which would be acceptable to doctors in
the eleven countries the group represented, and would serve as a
basis for training programmes. The Working Party produced several
important statements defining general practice, and more precisely
the role of the General Practitioner. The definition has stood the
test of time, remaining the best-known one in most European
countries. Byrne was also advisor in General Practice to the DHSS
in 1972, and took on the role of advisor to the British Council and
many foreign governments, advising on medical education and the
establishing of Departments or Colleges of General Practice, during
his visits abroad.
Byrne received many awards in later life and gave numerous
eponymous lectures. He delivered the first William Pickles Lecture
at the Royal College of General Practitioners, and the Gale
Memorial Lecture, in 1968, and in 1971 gave the W. Victor Johnston
Memorial Oration, to the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
Byrne was also the first general practitioner to give the William
Marsden Lecture at the Royal Free Hospital London, in 1974, whilst
in 1975 he was the David Lloyd Hughes Memorial Lecturer at
Liverpool.
He was also honoured overseas by the awarding of the
Hippocratic medal of the SIMG (International Society for General
Practice) in 1963, and the Sesquicentennial medal of the Medical
University of South Carolina, 1974. He was made Honorary Fellow of
the College of Medicine in South Africa in 1975, and given Honorary
Membership of the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 1976.
At home he was appointed OBE in 1966 and CBE in 1975.
In 1937 he married Dr Kathleen Pearson, a fellow student from
Liverpool University. Between 1938 and 1952 they had 2 sons and 4
daughters. Byrne died suddenly at his home, barely 18 months after
he had retired, on 25 February 1980.