{"id":2168,"date":"2017-07-13T16:44:27","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T15:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/religion-law-and-the-constitution\/?p=2168"},"modified":"2025-12-05T13:03:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T13:03:03","slug":"dr-adrian-crisp-md","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/religion-law-and-the-constitution\/2017\/07\/13\/dr-adrian-crisp-md\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr Adrian Crisp MD"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”on” next_background_color=”#000000″ global_module=”322″][et_pb_fullwidth_menu global_parent=”322″ _builder_version=”3.17.6″ menu_id=”8″ submenu_direction=”downwards” fullwidth_menu=”off” background_layout=”dark” module_class=”main-navigation” \/][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#1d1d1d”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”2″][et_pb_row_inner locked=”off”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.17.6″ featured_placement=”above” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off” date_format=”j M Y” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_layout=”light” parent_locked=”off”]<\/p>\n

\"AdrianHow would you describe yourself in terms of religion and belief?<\/h2>\n

In religious terms I am cultural Christian, brought up in the Church of England. I used to go to college chapel as an undergraduate.\u00a0 Without profound beliefs, but I still feel quite strongly that the Christian religion is the cultural religion of this country, and of Western Europe and we should support it.<\/p>\n

Was this the tradition you grew up in?<\/h2>\n

It was what I grew up with, I was brought up in an Anglo Catholic C of E environment, which was very important to me until I came to Cambridge as an undergraduate, when my beliefs went rather mid-market, and I began to disapprove of those Anglo Catholic things.\u00a0 But my beliefs have all now really disappeared, but I still regard the Christian religion as a great prop for our society and it deserves to be supported.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Would you describe Great Britain as an equal and tolerant society?<\/h2>\n

Yes, I don\u2019t think that we could do any better really.\u00a0 It\u2019s a free a society as it is possible to imagine, people are free to believe what they wish.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you ever experienced any pressures or problems living in accordance with your own beliefs?<\/h2>\n

No, I haven\u2019t had any problems personally or professionally I have been able to do exactly as I please.\u00a0 I worked \u00a0early in my career with an RC doctor. He was put under considerable pressure to carry out termination of pregnancy. This was way back in the 1970s. He stuck up for his beliefs, but he was put under considerable pressure by those who saw themselves as having to do his work for him.\u00a0 His seniors put pressure on him to conform.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you regard the Human Rights Act and a greater awareness of human rights as a positive thing for our society?<\/h2>\n

Yes, it has been a positive thing.\u00a0 I still have a great sympathy for not only human rights but also human responsibilities.\u00a0 Again a major theme of belief and behaviour, with rights come responsibilities, an equal and opposite part.\u00a0 Human responsibilities should be enshrined in law as well as human rights.\u00a0 Possibly we could do more to have human responsibilities in law, in some solid way.<\/p>\n

What do you think about faith schools?<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m strongly against.\u00a0 Faith schools within the state sector should not exist.\u00a0 If privately some schools need to be set up then so be it, but they must be entirely funded from within.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Should religious businesses be permitted exemptions from equalities legislation?<\/h2>\n

I believe in secular rules which should apply to everyone.\u00a0 Obviously we have to make sure that they are sensible and practical and ethical by the current standards of thought. They should apply to all of society.\u00a0 I remember working in London in medicine, and certain people of certain religious faiths got more days off, and I didn\u2019t think that was fair as other people in the team had to pick up the work.\u00a0 With us, if you happened to be rostered on duty for Christmas or Easter, then you did it. Patient care came first, not your own individual beliefs or wishes.<\/p>\n

Do you think that living in a Parliamentary democracy is a good thing?<\/h2>\n

As Churchill said, it was the least bad option tried over centuries and millennia.\u00a0 I can\u2019t envisage a further Darwinian evolution of an even fairer system, one can quibble about voting systems, but I think that a Parliamentary system is the right one, even though there are imperfections.<\/p>\n

Do you believe that you have a moral obligation to vote?<\/h2>\n

Yes, my wife is Australian born, and there you have to vote, and I think that I do support that and would support the practice of fining people here.\u00a0 It has a great moral sense, people are then participating unless they have a mental or physical reason that excuses them.<\/p>\n

Does it concern you that the House of Lords is not elected?<\/h2>\n

Yes it does.\u00a0 I would like to see an elected senate or upper chamber, that would perhaps be elected by PR, but not totally by PR, I would like to identify constituencies within society that deserve representation.\u00a0 For example, I would like to see plenty of \u00a0doctors to represent medicine and how we organise that, universities\u2026\u2026but not necessarily political appointees.\u00a0 It sounds a bit elitist but I don\u2019t think that is wrong here.\u00a0 I would not give it the power to delete Commons legislation, just to modify.\u00a0 But the current House of Lords can\u2019t go on as it is, it is a shame our politicians haven\u2019t been able to work towards a more effective second chamber.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What do you feel about the Lords Spiritual?<\/h2>\n

I don\u2019t see it as a particularly valid thing, I see no reason not to have a faith representative \u00a0in my new senate, and I think that all of the major faiths should be represented if that happened.<\/p>\n

How do you feel about the devolved assemblies?<\/h2>\n

I do think that the devolved Parliaments have been a good thing. A long time ago I thought that UK should be a federal country.\u00a0 I\u2019m in favour of devolution of most parts of day to day things to those components.<\/p>\n

What responsibilities come morally with power and influence?<\/h2>\n

I think that what we said at the beginning, I do have a strong belief that ethical standards should underpin all application of power so there need to be mechanisms to ensure that political and economic power is subject to internal ethical review, to make sure that people always behave for the good of society.\u00a0 In this country and in the EU and internationally.\u00a0 It is not acceptable for power to promote the advantage of that particular narrow view.<\/p>\n

What responsibilities do all citizens owe to society?<\/h2>\n

To contribute to the greater good, it all sounds a bit apple pie, but it comes back to what I was saying about responsibilities being give equal weight to rights.\u00a0 Everyone has to do their bit.<\/p>\n

Would you say that the current make up of Parliamentary representatives is a reasonable representation of society as a whole?<\/h2>\n

I don\u2019t think that the House of Commons represents all of society, but I\u2019m not necessarily disturbed by that. \u00a0I don\u2019t see it being the job of the House of Commons to exactly reflect society by gender, religion or race and other human characteristics.\u00a0 You are hoping that society is structured to allow people with the right ethical and moral standards to rise to the top, and if they have those qualities they will work for everybody in society.\u00a0 But it is a concern that the quality of representatives seem to be declining rather than rising.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t think that the House of Commons should be mandated by quota to reflect all of those different components of society.<\/p>\n

Have you ever felt so strongly about a social or political situation that you done something to try to change it, and if so what?<\/h2>\n

I have spent my whole professional life in medicine, and have strong views.\u00a0 I qualified in the early 1970s and I would say that at \u00a0the end of the 80s and early 90s that medicine lost its way.\u00a0 Governments started to increase the pressure, under the guise of finance, but there was more to it than that. They wanted to castrate the profession.\u00a0 I have spoken about it, I have debated it with the local MP.\u00a0 I have written to the newspapers, and have tried to reflect my feelings.\u00a0 Of course writing to the paper achieves nothing, but it makes you feel better.<\/p>\n

In the twentieth century, before the NHS there was very good medical practice and a strong ethic of the doctor looking after the patient to the best of his or her ability.\u00a0 That policy was carried through into the NHS, but government could not leave it alone.\u00a0 So now there is a massive barrier to doing your best for the patient. Now everyone is looking over their shoulder at managers. Doctors are expected to serve the state not the patient.\u00a0 This has been exacerbated by financial strictures, but there is more to it than that.\u00a0 Governments want to break and control doctors, allowing political views to effect how medicine is practice.\u00a0 To the great detriment of our patients.\u00a0 For example, I strongly disapprove that patients can only access specialist services through their GPs. Meanwhile the GPs are being lent on not to refer people.\u00a0 It\u2019s no longer tenable nor correct to have this system, for our patients to be truly free. If they wish to see a cardiologist they should be allowed to do so.\u00a0 For a set of symptoms there is a 20 fold difference in the likelihood of referral. We have some very high and some very low referring practices, but the average UK practice refers too few people for things like cancer.\u00a0 We have some of the lowest cancer survival stats because of that.<\/p>\n

I suppose the other thing I would record \u00a0is my own role during my stint chairing \u00a0the Addenbrookes consultants. I believed strongly that the hospital should be smoke free. Nobody should smoke on site.\u00a0 When I was up for election, my platform was that within my three stint Addenbrooke\u2019s would be a smoke free zone.\u00a0 We initially won, but the protests were immense, the nurses, the visitors, there was huge trouble.\u00a0 So management caved in and appeased the smoking lobby. More recently, \u00a0of course it has become standard practice.\u00a0 But I did stand up and it did make a difference. In the long term we won the battle.<\/p>\n

Again, freedom without responsibilities.\u00a0 We\u2019ve become a liberal society, but individuals have responsibilities. By smoking they are doing harm to those around them.<\/p>\n

In your own interactions with public authorities, have your own beliefs been respected?<\/h2>\n

Yes I think so, but I don\u2019t really have any unconventional beliefs.<\/p>\n

There was one medical example.\u00a0 For my first 15 years in Cambridge, the department had 20 beds, so that you could bring in people in big trouble, emergencies, and we could run a really good service. Then from the early 90s onwards they whittled away these beds and we ended up with none.\u00a0 So if any our patients were acutely ill, they had to go to one of the other teams.\u00a0 It was a huge decline in the quality of care, I battled hard to try and reverse this trend, but I failed.\u00a0 I had no power to do anything other than verbally disagree.<\/p>\n

Is it important to you always to act within the law?<\/h2>\n

The starting point is that the law should be obeyed by everyone, because our system is based on that.\u00a0 The law has been established by democratic principles in Parliament, so you have to obey these rules.\u00a0 Are there examples where one could step outside the law?\u00a0 If by some political nightmare this country became the tool of extreme left or right wingers one would have to consider stepping outside that and joining the resistance movement.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t \u00a0anticipate that happening.<\/p>\n

Do your personal beliefs require you to speak out against injustices affecting third parties?<\/h2>\n

Yes they do.\u00a0 And in medical practice the GMC in its code of principles enjoins us \u00a0if we see bad practice to identify it and do something about it.\u00a0 That has been an improvement in my time in medicine.\u00a0 In the past it was important to keep your mouth shut and that was very wrong.<\/p>\n

The only other area I was particular interested in the way that contracts for setting up building work were being constructed.\u00a0 One example, we were going to do up our post graduate medical centre, and I was responsible for that at that stage.\u00a0 We had our own funds generated by post graduate teaching courses and so I and those around me, found a decent architect to redesign the centre and having developed those plans went out to local building firms to quote.\u00a0 Not huge funds, over \u00a3100k but not immense, we got three quotes and chose \u00a0a particular local firm.\u00a0 We had to get it signed off by management and they objected to our going off our own bat, and said \u00a0they had a list of approved firms and that we must use one.\u00a0 So we went through the whole business of tender with the approved firms, and they were twice as expensive!\u00a0 Considerably higher, but we were obliged to pay almost twice as much.\u00a0 So this told me that there was a caucus of people\u00a0 within the bidding public sector who were pitching high quotes.\u00a0 If this was magnified up to big projects this was wasting the NHS a huge amount of money.\u00a0 But I went to the high scions and was told to keep quiet.\u00a0 I would have loved to go to the press, but I knew that I would be suspended and probably lose my job.\u00a0 I was gagged and I wasn\u2019t very happy with that, there was no freedom of expression.\u00a0 It was an autocratic system not running for the best interests of the whole medical system.<\/p>\n

Is the Rule of Law applied equally?<\/h2>\n

I am not really in a position to answer that, I don\u2019t have the personal experience.\u00a0 Certainly our system of the law relies enormously on the integrity of the police, one hears, reads that it may not always be as fair as it should be.\u00a0 But it\u2019s purely second hand, not based on experience.<\/p>\n

How do you feel about the general trend to increase State\/police powers over the past 15 years?<\/h2>\n

I don\u2019t believe it has gone too far. The forces of evil we\u2019re up against are quite strong and growing stronger in terms of IT and things, and we have to match them.\u00a0 In other words \u00a0I trust \u00a0the political system to work to our best interests. I believe that the vast majority of police and organisations have good integrity, they can be trusted not to exceed their brief.\u00a0\u00a0 The thing that worries me the most is that until recently fear of one\u2019s own death would be quite a deterrent, but the fear of death makes no\u00a0 difference to people who have no respect for their own lives, so there is no deterrent.\u00a0 When up against people like that, government needs all of the levers to fight against it.<\/p>\n

Anything which you would like to add?<\/h2>\n

I don\u2019t particularly\u2026..we\u2019ve touched on human rights law, which if I understand it, the ECHR is the senior, final court of appeal.\u00a0 I would like to see a real, well expressed code of responsibilities set down in legal terms.\u00a0 It\u2019s a huge project and very difficult, but I would like to see it enshrined in legal responsibilities.\u00a0 Many would say that it would limit true personal freedom, but it\u2019s a price which has to be paid when rights are, correctly, so strong.\u00a0 We do need to emphasise the other side as well, personal and public \u00a0responsibility as well as rights.<\/p>\n

Would you see these responsibilities as aspiration or actually enforceable?<\/h2>\n

I would like to see some enforcement. Financial penalties\u00a0 to influence behaviour could be\u00a0 developed.\u00a0 But at least a code of behaviour\u00a0 needs to be established and it should be cross party, and agreed.\u00a0 Not party political.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that most people would sign up to it.\u00a0 A Bill of Responsibilities, not just a Bill of Rights.\u00a0 It would have to be able to change too, as society changes.\u00a0 Maybe revised every ten years.\u00a0 But I think that it\u2019s worthwhile area of thought.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr Adrian Crisp was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge and University College Hospital, London (UCH). He gained wide postgraduate experience in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and General Practice before focussing on General Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolic Bone Diseases at UCH. He undertook further specialist training in Rheumatology and Metabolic Bone Diseases at Guy’s Hospital, London and at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.<\/p>\n

On appointment to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in 1985 he founded the clinical service in metabolic bone diseases and osteoporosis and raised funds for the first Bone Density Unit in East Anglia in 1989. He combines a busy clinical practice in bone and joint diseases with a strong interest in medical education. He was Associate Dean in the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine and Eastern Postgraduate Deanery from 1998-2005. He was Director of Studies in Clinical Medicine at Churchill College, Cambridge from 1991-2011, and is a Fellow of Churchill College.<\/p>\n

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