Evan Griffiths – Mobile Field Hospital

Consultant surgeon Bridgend hospitals, south Wales, 1951-60, consultant geriatrician Wrexham Maelor Hospital, north Wales, 1961-81 (b Llanelly 1916; q St Bartholomew’s 1940; FRCSEd, FRCS), died from a myocardial infarction on 28 July 1998.

After house jobs in London he joined the Royal Air Force and was involved in the Normandy landings and the European campaign as part of a mobile field hospital. He was one of the first doctors to enter the Belsen concentration camp. He continued his surgical training in London under Professor Ian Aird and Sir James Patterson Ross. His surgical career was cut short by a cerebrovascular accident in 1958, leaving him with a residual weakness in one hand. But in 1961 he set up the geriatric service at Maelor Hospital, building it up until he retired in 1981. He loved Wales and everything Welsh, especially rugby, having represented his home town and Barts. He leaves a wife, Joan; three sons (one of whom is also a surgeon); and four grandchildren.

by Nicholas Griffiths

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