Dr Abdul Gatrad

Written by a patient at Manor Hospital

When my daughter frequently started to become sick, I knew that Dr Gatrad was the best doctor to review my child's health. I have known Dr Gatrad for the over 25 years and was seen by him when I was a child myself and now my daughter has been under his care for the last 6 months. The patience and passion Dr Gatrad portrays is commendable. He makes the child feel safe and approachable with his easy manner and friendliness. My daughter had been sick for months and was not getting any better. Dr Gatrad immediately made a few suggestions and blood tests revealed several deficiencies and a very bad urine infection. Dr Gatrad put my mind at rest and I knew that my child was in safe hands. The medication has helped my daughter and she is well in herself now for the last 5 months. Dr Gatrad has seen many of my niece's and nephews within my extended family and every person has praise for his diligent work. I am blessed to have been under Dr Gatrad's good care when I was a child and now my daughter is in the same good care :-)

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Written by a member of staff at Manor Hospital

Prof Gatrad taught me a lot of things whilst i was with him and as a student i believe that i will take these valuable lessons with me whilst i continue in my journey of becoming a doctor. His teaching lessons were not only very informative, and interesting but also a lot of fun as the things that we learnt were backed up by Dr.Gatrad's own personal experinces as a very successful and experienced doctor. I was with the doctor in many of the clinics that he did and the way he worked with the patients was truely outstanding. He dealt with every patient differently from the different levels of proffessionalism and it was clearly evident that all his patients loved him. It was lovely to see how much the patients along with their families trusted and respected Dr.Gatrad; there was nothing but praise to be heard for this amazing doctor. I learnt a lot from Dr. Gatrad and honestly believe he is one of the best doctors there are. Dr.Gatrad is not only a wonderful doctor, but also an amazing person with a heart of gold. I was very lucky to have gotten the oppurtunity to work with him. I would love to be a Doctor like him when i finally graduate.

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Written by a carer at Manor Hospital

Our son Sam has been under Professor Gatrad's care for 3 years and quite honestly has been truly outstanding with his professionalism and genuine concern. Sam feels totally at ease with professor Gatrad and has no fear when attending hospital for consultation. Nothing has been too much trouble and every avenue has been exhausted during treatment. As parents we importantly have total confidence in decisions made and would not like to be under any other consultant. We have been extremely fortunate to have professor Gatrad and have nothing but praise for such a friendly professional gentleman

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Written by a patient at Manor Hospital

I first met Professor. Gatrad around October 2010 when I was referred to him by my GP. At the time, I was 17 years old and I had several symptoms including dizziness, vacancy (being unaware of my surroundings), and I was recurrently becoming unconscious, passing out up to three or four times a day. On my first consultation with professor Gatrad, he immediately made me feel welcome and at ease. Previously I had been extremely insecure, as I was told that my problem was untreatable and that it would only “improve with age”. As soon as I described my symptoms to him, I was thoroughly examined. After this, he sat me down and he went through all the possibilities of what my problem could have been, and what he had already “ruled out” through examination. He was extremely thorough every single step of the way. After all examinations had been carried out, I was diagnosed a particular form of migraine. Medication was immediately prescribed, and within a couple of weeks of taking my medication, my problem had disappeared. My major problem was the fact that I was repeatedly becoming unconscious, but to this day the medication has been effective. Until I met Professor Gatrad, it was an increasingly difficult time for me, as I was trying to sit AS level examinations whilst the question of when I would next feel ill, or become unconscious was unanswerable. There are no words to describe how grateful I am to Professor Gatrad for getting me through a very tough time, which previous doctors had failed to do. From the moment I was under his care, I had every faith in him. My dream is to study to be a doctor, so in passing I asked whether there was any chance I would be able to gain work experience in Walsall Manor Hospital. This is when he told me that he could “take me under his wing”. I applied through the Hospital and within a couple of months, it was organised that I would work with him in the summer holidays. From the very first day, he had made a structured programme for me to follow, so that I would have a “taste” of all the different areas of paediatrics. He would frequently inform me about different patients to ensure that I learnt something new at every opportunity, he also organised for me to work in the Paediatric Assessment Unit, attend Ward Rounds, talk to patients, meet new people, and he introduced me to fifth year medical students. He allowed me to accompany him in his clinics and observe as he treated and gave advice to other patients. This was an absolutely fascinating experience. The way he communicates with parents and their children and gets even the youngest, scared and/or the most stubborn of children to co-operate is phenomenal. He took me into his teachings with medical students, and he even set me “homework” to make sure I was constantly learning whilst in his company. He gave me recommendations to which universities (in his opinion) were the best for studying medicine. In the period that I worked with Professor Gatrad he taught me the skills of using my initiative, and being independent, this placement made me “stand on my own two feet”. I immensely enjoyed working along side him so much, that when he offered for me to work with him an extra week, I couldn’t resist. The past few weeks working along side someone so inspirational, is without a doubt one of the best opportunities I could have ever been given, as I saw someone so experienced doing something that I love and in a role that I aspire to take. He is truly an inspiration to each and every doctor, no matter what age, or speciality. I would recommend him unreservedly to any parent, and I would trust him with my life unconditionally. He has helped me so much both medically and mentally throughout my journey to higher education, and I owe both my health and welfare to him. Looking at my lifestyle a year ago, and looking at it now, it has been completely turned around, and I couldn’t have done it without Professor Gatrad. His lifestyle and the actions that he takes, is something that I could only dream of having for myself. If I am given the opportunity to study medicine at university, I would strive to be as thorough and intelligent as him. He has successfully given me great passion, and the thirst for knowledge regarding medicine. Professor Gatrad is without a doubt the most passionate, knowledgeable and determined doctor I have ever met. I could never thank you enough Professor Gatrad for the huge impact that you have had on my life.

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Written by a carer at Manor Hospital

Our 4yr old son has been ill on and off over the last to 2 years manly the winter being the worst. He could only run for a few minutes without getting out out of breath and in the summer time would get high temperature every 3-4 weeks and every 2 weeks in the winter. I would take him to our GP who would say that he had asthma and had picked up a viral infection but this winter being the coldest he was extremely ill and a close friend of ours told us of Professor Gatrad and he gave him a call. Hearing how ill he was he invited us to come and see him at his home address the following day. He was very warm and caring from the first minute we meet him he asked us questions and then he turned to my son and started to talk to him soon enough my son was relaxed around him he then went on to examine him and listened to his chest and tapped on his back, he then told us that there was a problem with his left lung. To him it seemed as if the lung had collapsed and urgently wanted us to get an X-ray. We went back to our GP and we requested to be refereed to Professor Gatrad and we were seen by him the next day. We got an X-ray done and was not to see the Professor till the next week but we got a phone call that evening from him asking us to come and see him the next day. He then told us it seemed more serious than he first thought he them started phoning a consultant at Birmingham children's hospital(BCH) and we were asked to come in the next day. After seeing the doctors at BCH we got a call from Professor Gatrad that evening to ask what was said and what was happening. Soon after being sent to BCH our son had major surgery that saved his life. Since first meeting Professor Gatrad in march to this very day he still sees us to see how our son is doing. Professor Gatrad is a very exquisite and unique man he truly is 1 in a million and has a heart of gold and our son adores him.

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