Dr Gerry McCann working at The Spire Private Hospital , Leicestershire

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Consultant Profile

Name:
Dr Gerry McCann Bsc(Hons), MB, ChB, MRCP, MD
Practising at:
Spire Leicester Hospital
Specialties:
Cardiology
Special clinical interests:
Functional assessment of coronary artery disease. Cardiomyopathies. Heart failure. Valvular heart disease.
Research interests:
Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in heart failure and valvular disease. Prognostic valve of MRI in heart disease.
Current NHS and /or university posts:
Consultant Cardiologist, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
Year of first medical qualification:
1992
Current membership(s) of professional, national and regional bodies:
British Cardiac Society
British Society of Echocardiography
British Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance

Contact Details
Telephone number to make a private appointment:
0116 265 3685
Private secretary telephone number:
0116 256 3402
Private secretary email address:
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Background Information
Professional profile:
Dr McCann graduated from Glasgow University and after working in New Zealand for one year he returned to Glasgow to begin cardiology training and completed his research degree (MD) in cardiopulmory excercise testing. After moving to Leicester in 2000, to continue general cardiology training, Dr McCann continued his interest in non-interventional cardiology and was awarded a European Society of Cardiology Fellowship to train in MRI at Amsterdam in 2004.
His clinical interests are the assessment and management of coronary artery disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathy and valvular disease.
Personal profile:
Dr McCann is a keen sportsman and has represented Scotland at various levels in both cross country and middle distance running. He is married with three young children and naturally has less time for sporting activities although keeps fit by regulary cycling to work.



He is married with three young children and naturally has less time for sporting activities

Shame his sporting activities took priority over his children on holiday. Even when one of them went missing, Gerry didn't let that get in the way of his tennis and jogging did he? Infact Gerry was playing tennis a day or so after Madeleine's disappearance and both he and Kate were off jogging most days.

Ye gods have you seen the number of Doctors and Misters that do a bit on the private provision side at that place. Still it helps to pay the mortgage for their executive houses in the very best locations I suppose, them being so poorly paid on the NHS.

Topic reactivated in view of the current one on Gerry's medical speciality. The link in the original post is no longer available.

It would seem that GM's contract with the Spire has expired: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

There's something not right about that cv which was posted by Autumn in March 2011 but I can't put my finger on it...   it'll come to me and, when it does, I'll be back

Could it be the fact that whoever compiled that  CV can't spell cardiopulmonary exercise? 

[If it was re-typed by "Autumn" and is a typo by him/her, I apologise !

It is very well possible that Gerry is earning better now.  It is not known if Kate went back to her GP job, which she had when Madeleine disappeared.
If they were living on two salaries at that time and the donation to the fund is blocked at this moment,  it could become very difficult for them to financially survive.
I wonder if they are the ones who spontaneously blocked it or if an authority obliged them to do it.  For a while they don't seem to have being made formal suspects, by the Yard.
We have to wait, something that we have done for more than six years.

Marconi, you'll see on the "How should it have gone?" topic that Kate is not currently registered to practise as a GP.

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See this link for the details of the GMC search.

"Dr Gerry McCann Bsc(Hons), MB, ChB, MRCP, MD
Practising at:
Spire Leicester Hospital"

Personally, I wouldn't want to have any doctor who is 'practising' - I want one who already knows how to do it.........

And I certainly don't want one who might say, if you were to have an accident in the department because of my neglect, why would that be my fault?.........

Swannie wrote:"Dr Gerry McCann Bsc(Hons), MB, ChB, MRCP, MD
Practising at:
Spire Leicester Hospital"

Personally, I wouldn't want to have any doctor who is 'practising' - I want one who already knows how to do it.........

And I certainly don't want one who might say, if you were to have an accident in the department because of my neglect, why would that be my fault?.........

 

If you want to see an example of GM's bedside manner, it's a clip from the documentary 'Madeleine was here' , the same documentary where we see them acting out their 'normal' family life. It 's as if a pair of cyborgs had been given a script on how to be parents.

marconi wrote:It is very well possible that Gerry is earning better now.  It is not known if Kate went back to her GP job, which she had when Madeleine disappeared.
If they were living on two salaries at that time and the donation to the fund is blocked at this moment,  it could become very difficult for them to financially survive.
I wonder if they are the ones who spontaneously blocked it or if an authority obliged them to do it.  For a while they don't seem to have being made formal suspects, by the Yard.
We have to wait, something that we have done for more than six years.

Very difficult on the salary of a cardiologist?? Come on, your standards of living must be way over the top.
I know a cardiologist who not only maintains his one family: wife stay at home mom, 3 children, but also the family of his brother who died.

Both families live quite comfortably and even pay for babysitters when needed.

Consultant Profile
Dr Gerry McCann Bsc(Hons), MB, ChB, MRCP, MD
Practising at:
Spire Leicester Hospital
Specialties:
Cardiology
Special clinical interests:
Functional assessment of coronary artery disease. Cardiomyopathies. Heart failure. Valvular heart disease.
Research interests:
Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in heart failure and valvular disease. Prognostic valve of MRI in heart disease.
Current NHS and /or university posts:
Consultant Cardiologist, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
Year of first medical qualification:
1992
Current membership(s) of professional, national and regional bodies:
British Cardiac Society
British Society of Echocardiography
British Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance

Background Information
Professional profile:
Dr McCann graduated from Glasgow University and after working in New Zealand for one year he returned to Glasgow to begin cardiology training and completed his research degree (MD) in cardiopulmory excercise testing. After moving to Leicester in 2000, to continue general cardiology training, Dr McCann continued his interest in non-interventional cardiology and was awarded a European Society of Cardiology Fellowship to train in MRI at Amsterdam in 2004.
His clinical interests are the assessment and management of coronary artery disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathy and valvular disease.
Personal profile:
Dr McCann is a keen sportsman and has represented Scotland at various levels in both cross country and middle distance running. He is married with three young children and naturally has less time for sporting activities although keeps fit by regulary cycling to work.

On reading this profile it would appear that Dr McCann determined on his speciality while he was at med school, or shortly thereafter, and singlemindedly dedicated himself to a career in cardiology.  However, from what can be gleaned from the little that is known of his history prior to 2007, between the time he became fully registered with the GMC cAugust 1993  and December 2000 when he relocated  to Leicestershire to take up a position as registrar in a NHS hospital's cardiology department, he was employed for at least 3 years as a lecturer in sports medicine and also spent one of those years in NZ as the antipodean equivalent of a house officer in an unspecificed surgical discipline.  
By way of an aside, during this period GM was able to take time out of his duties as a house officer (department unknown) at  Glasgow Western Infirmary 'in the mid-1990's' to give Celtic football club's' 'new signings' full medicals although it is not known whether this was before or after contracts had been agreed, or whether he performed this service in respect of any youth programmes/teams the club maintained at that time.

Given that there's no shortage of hospitals in Scotland and the border towns/cities I find it curious that this native Glaswegian, who chose to study and practise medicine in his home town and who was seemingly immune to the opportunities for advancement available to medics 'down under', elected to move so far south of the border to pursue his career, but this may be due to GM having little practical experience of hospital based cardiology some 7 years after he qualified in comparison with other applicants for registrar positions.

I seem to recall reading that KM has made some reference to the effect that that these positions were hard to come by -  presumably because those house officers who've found their vocation before or shortly after graduation tend to stay in their chosen discipline and work their way through to consultant level without interruption.  In disrupting her own chosen career path to relocate to Leics with her spouse, it may be regarded as fortuitous that KM was able to move close to the home of her uncle Brian Kennedy.  

As a point of information, the letters MD signify attainment of a masters-level degree in medicine which is a course of study available to qualified doctors of medicine who have 5 years or more post-graduate experience.  It's my understanding that such degrees can be awarded for past research papers but, as I agree with tigger's estimation of GM's academic abilities as evidenced by his published research in the field of cardiology,  it seems unlikely that he attained the right to append MD to his name without having spent some 3-5 years in full or part-time study.  How or where he found time to embark on studying for this further qualification is yet another mystery,

Ftr there is no evidence of KM (as Dr KH) having completed her training and qualifying as an anethesiologist.  In addition, as the competency based training to become a GP has been increased from 3 to 5 years, at least  2 years of which are hospital based and consist of 6 month rotations through various specialities which, I believe, must include A&E and Obstetrics, it's highly improbable that KM's part time work 1.5 days a week as a locum GP can be regarded as anything other than it was.  

As I've remarked on another thread, by the time of Madeleine's disappearance KM had racked up less than 2.5 months full-time experience as a GP which was not the impression I formed from the UK press who portrayed her as a 'family GP' with the implication being she'd given long service to this particular profession.

It's rare for anything to be what it seems in this case and it appears that the McCanns' respective careers in the field of medicine are no exception.

Looking at Gerry's CV could shed some light as to why Kate's career fell by the wayside.

I read somewhere that after graduation it was Kate who went to NZ to further her career and Gerry who followed her to woo her. Once he'd done this they both returned pdq to Glasgow to get on with his advancement. After remaining in Glasgow when he secured his cardiology training they then relocated to Leicestershire to continue his cardiology training after he secured a position down there. They then moved to Amsterdam, again to persue his training after he was awarded a fellowship to study there. After a year they returned to Leicester to continue with his career in roles at the Spire and the local NHS hospital.

Apart from the inconvenience of having to extract Kate from NZ the flow seems to have gone with Gerry's career at the forefront since then. I know young doctors who've had to relocate to several parts of the country in order to progress. Most who formed relationships with other medics early on inevitably split up due to the impossibility of both finding work within reasonable geographical location of each other.

This could explain why Kate, in order to maintain the relationship, took bit-part jobs as dictated by Gerry's career and where it took them. It would also indicate that she was extremely committed to him - to the exclusion of her own career - which may throw light on some of the apparent controlling behaviours exhibited from him to her.

Dee Coy wrote:Looking at Gerry's CV could shed some light as to why Kate's career fell by the wayside.

I read somewhere that after graduation it was Kate who went to NZ to further her career and Gerry who followed her to woo her. Once he'd done this they both returned pdq to Glasgow to get on with his advancement. After remaining in Glasgow when he secured his cardiology training they then relocated to Leicestershire to continue his cardiology training after he secured a position down there. They then moved to Amsterdam, again to persue his training after he was awarded a fellowship to study there. After a year they returned to Leicester to continue with his career in roles at the Spire and the local NHS hospital.

Apart from the inconvenience of having to extract Kate from NZ the flow seems to have gone with Gerry's career at the forefront since then. I know young doctors who've had to relocate to several parts of the country in order to progress. Most who formed relationships with other medics early on inevitably split up due to the impossibility of both finding work within reasonable geographical location of each other.

This could explain why Kate, in order to maintain the relationship, took bit-part jobs as dictated by Gerry's career and where it took them. It would also indicate that she was extremely committed to him - to the exclusion of her own career - which may throw light on some of the apparent controlling behaviours exhibited from him to her.

I think you're quite right. Imo GM saw someone he could control, Kate may have seen someone who'd take care of her for life. Someone to adore her. I don't think she'd have had much of a medical career. I think her mother said she chose medicine because she had to study something. Imo she is a narcissist, so finding the hard reality of marriage and children can't have been good for her mental health.
If only she'd married a rich man who adored her she'd have been quite happy. All imo of course. But this was a fatal combination.

It would appear that not only is Gerry no longer at the Spire hospital, but that he has also not put himself forward for, or been voted back onto, the board of BSCMR, which he had been on since 2008 according to his CV.

Board members 2012-14

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Board members 2014-16

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CV

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Gerry is an "Honorary Senior Lecturer at Leicester University.

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Has he done anything for the Uni as it states on their website that

"
Honorary Senior Lecturer
This title is awarded when a significant, regular teaching and/or research contribution is being made to the University on an unpaid basis."

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From UT's post: 

On reading this profile it would appear that Dr McCann determined on his speciality while he was at med school, or shortly thereafter, and singlemindedly dedicated himself to a career in cardiology.  However, from what can be gleaned from the little that is known of his history prior to 2007, between the time he became fully registered with the GMC cAugust 1993  and December 2000 when he relocated  to Leicestershire to take up a position as registrar in a NHS hospital's cardiology department, he was employed for at least 3 years as a lecturer in sports medicine and also spent one of those years in NZ as the antipodean equivalent of a house officer in an unspecificed surgical discipline.   
By way of an aside, during this period GM was able to take time out of his duties as a house officer (department unknown) at  Glasgow Western Infirmary 'in the mid-1990's' to give Celtic football club's' 'new signings' full medicals although it is not known whether this was before or after contracts had been agreed, or whether he performed this service in respect of any youth programmes/teams the club maintained at that time.

Given that there's no shortage of hospitals in Scotland and the border towns/cities I find it curious that this native Glaswegian, who chose to study and practise medicine in his home town and who was seemingly immune to the opportunities for advancement available to medics 'down under', elected to move so far south of the border to pursue his career, but this may be due to GM having little practical experience of hospitalbased cardiology some 7 years after he qualified in comparison with other applicants for registrar positions. 

I seem to recall reading that KM has made some reference to the effect that that these positions were hard to come by -  presumably because those house officers who've found their vocation before or shortly after graduation tend to stay in their chosen discipline and work their way through to consultant level without interruption.  In disrupting her own chosen career path to relocate to Leics with her spouse, it may be regarded as fortuitous that KM was able to move close to the home of her uncle Brian Kennedy. 
unquote


I'd like to add to the above that MRI cardiology seems to have been a little late in coming to the UK.  Therefore this method which is merely the interpretation of the equivalent of X-ray/cat scans for soft tissue is hardly rocket science. 
In fact I had in my possession several sets of MRIs taken of my back, easy to 'read' even for a non medical person. I've read the report written after the course at the VU in Amsterdam finished. A group effort, but hardly ground-breaking research imo. 
I'm far more interested why he was put forward for the fellowship in Amsterdam as there would have been a number of  other applicants with more experience in cardiology. Fellowships - in my experience - are hard to come by and are usually given to those who shine in their field. 


As for his bedside manner, the clip of Gerry at work in the documentary 'Madeleine was here'  points at a certain absence of this skill. Apart from that, I was somewhat worried that he put his stethoscope on the chest of a very fat man in order to check if his lungs were clear. 
Ah, well...  

Hi Tigger  

I have said several times that you don't end up at the MRI's because of your great diagnostical or therapeutical skills.

or bedside manners

Always useful to re-read topics, this :
Dr McCann is a keen sportsman and has represented Scotland at various levels in both cross country and middle distance running. He is married with three young children and naturally has less time for sporting activities although keeps fit by regulary cycling to work.
Unquote.

When? Where? What?

Was it IN Scotland or FOR Scotland? All I've ever read that he won the 1500 meters once when about 18/19.

One would expect more detail than given above. if he's represented Scotland then where and at what games?

tigger wrote:Always useful to re-read topics, this :
Dr McCann is a keen sportsman and has represented Scotland at various levels in both cross country and middle distance running. He is married with three young children and naturally has less time for sporting activities although keeps fit by regulary cycling to work.
Unquote.

When? Where?  What?

Was it IN Scotland or FOR Scotland?   All I've ever read that he won the 1500 meters once when about 18/19.

One would expect more detail than given above. if he's represented Scotland then where and at what games?

Hi Tigger.

All I can find re Scotland is this.

"Gerry, the son of Irish immigrants - his dad a joiner and mum a biscuit factory worker - was Scotland's under-19 1500 metres and Scottish universities 800 metres champion. He was also a skilled footballer and could have turned professional but opted to go to university instead."

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Gillyspot wrote:

tigger wrote:Always useful to re-read topics, this :
Dr McCann is a keen sportsman and has represented Scotland at various levels in both cross country and middle distance running. He is married with three young children and naturally has less time for sporting activities although keeps fit by regulary cycling to work.
Unquote.

When? Where?  What?

Was it IN Scotland or FOR Scotland?   All I've ever read that he won the 1500 meters once when about 18/19.

One would expect more detail than given above. if he's represented Scotland then where and at what games?

Hi Tigger.

All I can find re Scotland is this.

"Gerry, the son of Irish immigrants - his dad a joiner and mum a biscuit factory worker - was Scotland's under-19 1500 metres and Scottish universities 800 metres champion. He was also a skilled footballer and could have turned professional but opted to go to university instead."

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wee gerry's a pure brilliant runner, you wanny see 'im go!!!

tigger wrote:Always useful to re-read topics, this :
Dr McCann is a keen sportsman and has represented Scotland at various levels in both cross country and middle distance running. He is married with three young children and naturally has less time for sporting activities although keeps fit by regulary cycling to work.
Unquote.

When? Where?  What?

Was it IN Scotland or FOR Scotland?   All I've ever read that he won the 1500 meters once when about 18/19.

One would expect more detail than given above. if he's represented Scotland then where and at what games?

I wasn't aware that 800m and 1500m are distances which are run across country but as GM has it, confusion is good and I'm certainly confused as to how, as a lecturer in sports medicine with only mediocre research to his name, he was able to obtain a hospital cardiology post some 7 years after he qualifed and, more particularly, get himelf and his family what must have been a coveted all expenses paid year in Amsterdam within 3 years of his appointment.

As the petulant petted youngest child, the wee one was accustomed to being a big fish in a small pond and this may be the reason why he chose to study medicine and subsequently work in his home town both before and after his marriage.  There's no shortage of cardiology departments in Scotland's hospitals which, for me, makes the McCanns move south some time after 31 July 2000 somewhat puzzling.   Was there some pressing reason why they needed to leave Glasgow and what part did uncle Brian Kennedy play in their decision to move to his locality?

Gillyspot wrote:

tigger wrote:Always useful to re-read topics, this :
Dr McCann is a keen sportsman and has represented Scotland at various levels in both cross country and middle distance running. He is married with three young children and naturally has less time for sporting activities although keeps fit by regulary cycling to work.
Unquote.

When? Where?  What?

Was it IN Scotland or FOR Scotland?   All I've ever read that he won the 1500 meters once when about 18/19.

One would expect more detail than given above. if he's represented Scotland then where and at what games?

Hi Tigger.

All I can find re Scotland is this.

"Gerry, the son of Irish immigrants - his dad a joiner and mum a biscuit factory worker - was Scotland's under-19 1500 metres and Scottish universities 800 metres champion. He was also a skilled footballer and could have turned professional but opted to go to university instead."

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Ahhh! Of course someone with such a splendid team spirit would be first in line for Celtic .....  

If the account is true, then it still only means he has competed IN Scotland and not FOR Scotland. It must be possible to check these claims. My own take on it is that he probably won the two above races and never won anything else since.

As for a professional football career - sacrificed in order to save lives and become a cardiologist ...   

The wee one sacrificed fame and glory as a footballer in order to go to med school? Are you saying he could have been Scotland's very own Luis Suarez, tigger?   

ultimaThule wrote:The wee one sacrificed fame and glory as a footballer in order to go to med school? Are you saying he could have been Scotland's very own Luis Suarez, tigger?    

If he had become a prof. footballer instead of a Dr. he might not have needed to set up the Fund and ask pensioners and children to donate money.    As it happens he became a Dr. and resorted to using some of the Fund money for mortgage repayments.

As a prof. footballer he would most certainly have been able to afford a child minder on the 5 nights he left his children alone in a foreign land whilst out wining and wining.

If I recall correctly from Kate's book, money (or lack of it) was not the excuse given for not availing herself of the evening childcare service.

So even if our Gezza was the new Gazza and earning shedloads of money, it would have made no difference!

From topic 'Hall of Shame' page 74: re cadaver scent and GPs.

UltimaThule wrote:

Attending autopsies, or necropsies as you prefer to call them, is not part of the curriculum in UK medical schools, lj, and many thousands of practising doctors have never set foot in a mortuary or viewed, let alone performed, an autopsy,. In those med schools where anatomy continues to be learned using traditional methods as opposed to videos and computers, dissections are carried out on previously prepared cadavers in the anatomy lab where, as I have said, the overwhelming odour is that of formaldehyde.

Although this links to the site of a USA med school, the process of preparing and supplying cadavers for dissection is no different to that which is practised in the UK: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Cristobell does not appear to be aware that in cases where a body has lain undiscovered for days/weeks or more, the police call on specially trained police surgeons (also known as forensic physicians) who work on a rota system providing a 24 hr service every day of the year. These doctors may also be practising GPs but are highly unlikely to be the GPs of the 'patients' they are called on to attend.

Cristobell has also overlooked the fact that as the odour of a decomposing corpse is rarely detectable to the human nose until 24 hours or more after death, it's perfectly possible for hospital and other doctors to go from med school through to retirement without having been exposed to that distinct odour which, once it has assailed the nostrils, can never be forgotten.
Unquote

Hi Tigger,

Maybe we should post my answer to this post from UT too:

How sad for those UK medical students and doctors, they miss an essential part of the medical education and feedback on their treatments. So you really mean they don't attent a necrosy when a patient of them dies, even if their role was just being a lowly junior or medical student? Somehow I doubt that. In countries I have lived a necropsy would not continue if the treating doctor is not present. 

BTW at least in medical journals autopsy, necropsy, obduction is all used, depending of the area you live, and any medical student will know what you mean.