John M Tomlinson was born and educated in Chester. After house jobs at the Middlesex Hospital, the Central Middlesex Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital, and the Mother’s Hospital London he joined a general practice in his hometown in 1961. He was unable to institute all the changes he would have liked in the practice, and so he and his family left Chester for Alton in 1969.

He joined Walter Larcombe, a GP close to retirement who, noting John’s energy and enthusiasm, gave him the freedom to reorganise the practice. Alton had a GP maternity unit, GP beds in the Alton General Hospital, and the possibility of building one of the new health centres. John negotiated with the local authority, and with the cooperation of the other GPs a new health centre was opened in 1974. There was accommodation for GPs and for consultants coming from Basingstoke Hospital to do outpatients, an enriching experience for the GPs and an advantage for Alton patients. This was part of a pioneering movement …