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Distinguished Newbury surgeon celebrated in hospital publication





John Joyce (pictured right), who was born in Reading in 1912, took up the post of consultant surgeon at Newbury District Hospital, Andover Road, in 1948, and remained at the hospital until his retirement in 1977.
Mr Joyce was son of decorated surgeon Leonard Joyce (1882–1939), who amputated Sir Douglas Bader’s legs, after the pilot crashed his Bulldog aircraft above Woodley Airfield, Reading, in 1931.
Both surgeons are now celebrated in a new booklet produced by the Berkshire Medical Heritage Centre and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Research was undertaken by local historians, including Lionel Williams, who worked in the medical photography department at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, for 40 years, and gives talks on the former Newbury District Hospital.
He said: “Everyone knew John Joyce in Newbury and he is remembered fondly in the town.
“He was the surgeon in Newbury and that’s why he’s so well known. He was the anchor.”
John Joyce founded the Newbury Medical Society and was president of the society until his death in 1990, aged 78.
But he is perhaps best remembered for caring for Prince Charles, after the young prince fell ill at Cheam School, Headley, Hampshire, in 1962.
Mr Williams said: “The prince was brought to Newbury Hospital with possible appendicitis. John Joyce wisely thought the prince needed observation overnight to be sure of diagnosis. Sadly, the prince was transferred to Great Ormond Street the next day.
“John Joyce would have been suitable to carry out the procedure – it would have been bread and butter for him – but there was also an issue of security at Newbury Hospital, which was more like a village hospital. That’s a shame because it would have put the hospital on the map.”
A bronze statuette in memory of Mr Joyce once stood in the grounds of Newbury Hospital and is located at West Berkshire Community Hospital.
Mr Joyce’s widow, Joy, died on February 27, aged 93.
For more details about the booklet, which can be picked up at the Berkshire Medical Heritage Centre, based at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, visit www.royalberkshire.nhs.uk/museum



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