AROUND TOWN MEETS called needing an urgent visit. “
Although now retired from the Stag surgery, he still works two days as a Locum Doctor and also teaches medical students at Sheffield University, lecturing on modules such as the dangers of alcohol – of all things.
“They were so grateful and said I deserved a medal. But I was just doing my job.”
“I always tell my students it’s the best job in the world and I wouldn’t have done things differently. We don’t always cure patients as GPs, but we make a difference every day that helps or benefits others.”
Due to his undivided support, it was a patient’s wife who put him forward for an MBE back in 2011. Steve cared for her husband when he was dying and gave them his personal number to call him whatever time of day if anything happened.
The call sadly came at 2am one morning and Steve made his way over to the family home to console his wife and daughter in the early hours.
“They were so grateful and said I deserved a medal. But I was just doing my job.”
The lady went to visit Janet to discuss the idea of nominating Steve for the award which surprised him when the letter arrived in the post inviting him to the ceremony in 2012.
“It was Prince Charles who awarded me the MBE for services to healthcare and the community and I thought he’d ask me about my career and charitable works so prepared all my answers. But he actually said to me, ‘I hear you like real ale, do you have any good breweries in Rotherham?’”
Alongside his career, Steve has also practised in philanthropy, wanting to give back to the community in other ways.
6
aroundtownmagazine.co.uk
During the late 80s, Steve was one of the 13 people who originally founded Rotherham Hospice.
He used to go drinking with Dr Brendan Hudson and they often discussed the need for a hospice in Rotherham.
“The closest was St Luke’s in Sheffield and by the time Matron had been out to assess a patient, a bed had become available and they were taken there, it was often too late.”
At this time, cars weren’t as prevalent on the roads as today and so many relied on public transport. But it would take someone from Rotherham three buses to get to St Luke’s to visit a loved one in the hospice.
The chat over a pint was around the same time that Gerald Shaw gave Rotherham Hospital’s chaplain, Ralph Weston, £5 towards helping people dying from cancer. His wife had passed away from cancer in the hospital and he felt the busy ward wasn’t the end of life she deserved.
From this, the campaign was started to launch a hospice in Rotherham, with Steve one of the 13 people who attended the first meeting in 1988. Ralph became Chairman with Steve volunteering to be chairman of the fundraising committee.
They hosted sponsored walks, coffee mornings and family events in order to raise an
initial £2,000 to launch the trust.
“I met the leader of the council at the time, Cllr Jack Laden, to enquire about using Bailey House. We’d invited about 200 people from the council, health community and local media.
“Jack said it would be £10 per head so 200 people, £2,000 – the amount we’d raised to start the trust. I was a little disappointed we’d have to spend all our hard earned money but he then gave me a piece of paper and said to write him a letter asking for a £2,000 grant for the event, which he immediately agreed to.”
Come on the Toon
John Greaves and Steve Burns in a past publicity photo for the beer festival
palliative care, not just cancer patients.
Steve got stuck in with the fundraising efforts having set a target of £1million to open the hospice. By 1993 they’d raised over half of that figure and opened a day hospice within the hospital grounds before purchasing the council’s old nurseries on Broom Road for a negligible amount.
“The site ticked all the boxes: it was on a main road; it was close to the hospital; and it had views of the countryside – or the playing fields at least.”
The meeting went ahead and a board of trustees and directors was formed to start The Rotherham Hospice Trust.
Unlike other hospices, they chose not to name it after a Saint so as not to be exclusive to just one faith. It was also to be used by anyone needing
The hospice opened in 1996 and Steve applied to work there straight away, becoming one of the four doctors who took it in turns to work there in the week.
Back then, around half of all patients went home, the hospice being predominantly nurse run and more care based. There were no medical interventions, no drips, monitoring or bleeping machines, and most patients came for respite or symptom control rather than end of life care.
Along with being pivotal in creating a hospice in Rotherham, Steve says one his proudest achievements is redefining mental health services for the town. Under the provision of RDASH, the local healthcare trust, patients needing mental health support often had up to a six month wait to be seen by a mental health professional.
Steve and his family outside Buckingham Palace after MBE presentation
With the help of two mental health nurses, Julie Hunter and Sue Schmitz-Butler, Steve took over the service through
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