FRIENDS and colleagues of anaesthetist Dr Fred Lips have farewelled a man who has worked at Port Macquarie Base Hospital and Hastings District Hospital since 1989.
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Surgical, medical, anaesthetic, nursing and his Chronic Pain Clinic colleagues attended a special morning tea at the base hospital last week to honour Dr Lips and to thank him for his mentorship over the decades.
Department of Anaesthesia director at Port Macquarie Base Hospital Dr Will Waldow spoke of Dr Lips' commitment to the hospital, to its patients and to the broader Hastings community, describing his colleague and friend as a champion of patient advocacy.
"Fred, with the help of very good staff, is the forefather of pain management in Port Macquarie," Dr Waldow said.
"He is and always has been a champion of patient advocacy and a champion of the people.
"Fred has been a fervent supporter of succession planning - of share and grow, of teach and learn.
"There would be hundreds of registrars who have been taught by Fred; who have been nurtured and supported by Fred," Dr Waldow said.
Acute pain management nurse specialist Vicki Newton also spoke at the farewell function, thanking Dr Lips for helping to establish the chronic pain service.
She also thanked him for his mentorship and for his advocacy on behalf of nurses.
"We really do appreciate all your work and your wonderful support of us as a team," Ms Newton said.
Dr Lips, whose post graduate medical career started at Royal Newcastle Hospital in 1970, spoke fondly of his 26 years at the hospital and described its transformation from a two-theatre facility to a major teaching hospital as an achievement his colleagues could be proud of.
"I've always believed in being a team player," he said.
"And I've worked with a great team - my anaesthetic colleagues, my surgical colleagues and nursing colleagues.
"There are so many wonderful memories which I know will sustain me on my next great journey."
Dr Lips, who has also worked at St George's Hospital in London and the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, intends to concentrate his energies on his family, which includes four adult children, his macadamia farm in the Camden Haven and on his love of flying.