letter to prince charles for dr skinner. Please read and perhaps consider sending one of your own. I think it is an issue he would support.

Dear Prince Charles,

I hope you are well and have been able to enjoy a good Christmas.

I am writing to you with the purpose of bringing to your attention a very exceptional man who died recently, a sad loss to myself and the thousands of people he helped as well as to the wider world.

His name was Dr Gordon Skinner. He was a medical doctor who worked and fought hard to try to ensure people with an underactive thyriod were treated effectively. He also invented a vaccine for herpes and produced, using cactus plants, a treatment for the common cold and other viruses.

Sadly none of his ground breaking work was not given the respect or recognition it deserved. He was absolutely hounded by the GMC for working and thinking slightly differently and only able to continue to practice because of the enormous support from thousands of people he had made well when conventional approaches had failed.

I had the privilege of meeting him only once as a patient. He was a rather eccentric Glaswegian of working class origin who must have worked hard to become a doctor. He was very gentle and thorough in the way he questioned me about my health and was the first doctor in spite of the many I had tried to talk to who took my concerns about my thyroid seriously and offered to help.

It is tragic that this proud hard working older man has his reputation so badly damaged by the GMC who it seems tolerate all kinds of untrustworthy behaviour in their doctors as long as they toe the line.

I wondered whether you might be able to look into his work. As a nurse myself I was very impressed. There will be much talk about him I imagine of the thyroid UK website currently. I thought that perhaps you might be able to give him some kind of posthumous award when you become king for his services to medicine. It would go some way towards making amends to this man and his family and also raise the profile of his important work.

I write to you as just one patient but hope that a few more will sign this letter in support

With Kind regards

Mandy Jane.