NEWCASTLE lord mayor Ross Kerridge has downed tools as a senior staff specialist anaesthesiologist after a remarkable 40 years in medicine.
October 14 was his last day on the job, the same date Dr Kerridge suffered a near-death experience early in his specialist career.
Dr Kerridge was working with the Careflight helicopter medical retrieval service when he suffered multiple life-threatening injuries in a horror accident that put him in hospital for six months.
That life-altering event at age 34 not only gave him perspective on the patient experience, but later changed the course of his career, and eventually the care of other patients at John Hunter Hospital.
"I chose this day late last year, and there is a particular reason why I chose yesterday [Monday], and that's a long personal story," he said.
"I had a major accident and near-death experience and was in hospital for six months, that was the 14th of October so that's the day I chose to finish my career.
"That's part of my back story, learning about what it's like to be a patient."
Dr Kerridge has spent the past 25 years working at John Hunter Hospital, and is now turning his efforts to an entirely new operation at the helm of City of Newcastle.
"It's bittersweet, I look back on my career and I've just been incredibly lucky," Dr Kerridge said.
"I was fascinated by anaesthetics the first time I saw them.
"I've enjoyed it every time, yesterday we had three little kids having surgery and it all went beautifully, and you think, 'Why am I quitting?' but I decided last year I had to stop sooner or later, and Monday was the day."
As a final year medical student, Dr Kerridge was in theatre one day when the anaesthetist told him to pick up a syringe and give half of it to the patient.
Dr Kerridge was intrigued by its effects, and after he graduated began his training in anaesthetics.
"Very quickly the professor said, 'You're really good at this, this is what you should do'," he said.
"It felt right for me, I was fascinated by the science and by what we could do, and so that's where I specialised."
Throughout his career, Dr Kerridge has visited 150 hospitals across 20 countries.
It all started with an elective in Kenya where his passion for medicine was ignited, before he began work at The Royal Newcastle.
Dr Kerridge had an "unforgettable" stint in Alice Springs, crossed the globe to England and eventually found his way back to Australia, where he has worked at John Hunter Hospital for the past 25 years.
He said that, many times in his life, he had been "in the right place at the right time" to be given amazing opportunities.
From 1989, Dr Kerridge led the establishment of the 'Perioperative System' model of care for elective surgery, which is now the generally accepted model of elective surgical patient care in Australia.
The model has been adapted internationally, earning Dr Kerridge the title of the 'father' or 'grandfather' of perioperative medicine.
"When I was in intensive care, I changed practice about managing patients dying in intensive care, so being much more humane about the way we did that and being more humble when we realised that things had become futile," he said.
"I've been incredibly lucky to be involved in some changes and then spent the last 25 years at John Hunter, seeing an amazing department of some really bright people, much brighter than me, grow.
"They say that you're judged not by your own achievements but by the achievements of those that follow you, and I think that'll really be something to watch."
Dr Kerridge is an associate professor at the University of Newcastle, and hopes to continue teaching in some capacity and attending case discussion meetings.
He has been involved in a number of other projects involving re-organising and re-engineering health service delivery, including the establishment of the first hospital 'medical emergency' or 'rapid response' team in 1990.
Dr Kerridge said he had always been a big believer in seeing what was happening at the coalface.
"It really matters when you actually go and see the reality of what happens," he said.
Three-year-old Eilah Hazell, from Raymond Terrace, was Dr Kerridge's last patient on Monday. Mum Erin Southgate said she got quite a surprise when the lord mayor came to check on her daughter.
"I didn't find out until after the surgery when I went into recovery, it was a bit of a shock but it's a privilege she was his last patient," Ms Southgate said.
"He's a lovely man, he wanted to tell me the anaesthetic went really well and he was a bit teary when he said she was his last patient.
"He was amazing with her, you can tell he's used to having kids as patients, and it made it a lot easier when she had to go to sleep that he was so kind and patient with her."
In his new life as lord mayor, it's likely the next time Dr Kerridge steps back inside John Hunter Hospital will be for the opening of the $835 million expansion.
