Abstract

Doctor Neville Silverston graduated from University of Manchester in 1954 and, after doing his house jobs in industrial Lancashire and a two year spell in the USA , he entered single handed rural practice in Bottisham. Being on call 24 hours a day and uncontactable when out on his rounds prompted him to develop a wide area pocket pager – the first in the UK. In 1968, he set up a company, Cambridge Medical Answering Services Limited with a control room manned by nurses. This communication service led to his setting up the Mid-Anglia GP Accident Service (MAGPAS) in 1971 to turn doctors out to serious road accidents in Cambridgeshire. For this he was awarded the MBE . In 1974 he helped set up the Vocational Training Scheme for General Practice at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for which he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners. He is a Senior Member of Wolfson College, Cambridge.