Nicholas MacCarthy

bmj;393/jun05_10/e600160/VS1F1vs1Nick (or Dr Mac) was one of four children born to Eoghan “Paddy” and Eileen MacCarthy. He was an ambitious and dedicated student, sitting his O levels a year early and thus being encouraged to a career in medicine by the staff at St Joseph's Academy, Blackheath.Nick went on to study medicine at the University of Liverpool Medical School, qualifying in 1977. In Liverpool he made lifetime university friends, including the “Bootle seven,” who always kept in touch. At Fazakerley Hospital he met the love of his life, Bernadette, and they married in 1980.Nick chose a career in general practice and moved to St Leonards, Hastings, where he joined the Carisbrooke practice as their first GP trainee in 1980. Dr Mac's approach to the job could be summarised as a man who sought the best for his patients and colleagues. In the 1980s he saw the potential of computing and...