Gordon Watson is pictured accepting the award from Mayor of Waterford, Cllr Mary O’Halloran. Included in the photo are Paul McDaid, General Manager SE, Tower Hotel Group, and Alicia Maguire, General Manager, Tower Hotel, Waterford.
The winner of the Tower Hotel’s prestigious Excellence Award, consultant surgeon Gordon Watson of the Radiotherapy Trust, said last week that, boosted by an aging population, this country would have double the number of cancer patients in the next 12 years.
That scenario was a stark worry for services in the South East where there were already problems, he said.
However, Mr. Watson said that, with the new Whitfield Clinic facility and more services planned for Waterford Regional Hospital as announced by Health Minister Mary Harney, the region would have better facilities in the years ahead.
Referring to WRH and the Whitfield Clinic, he said having two facilities was a major advance. As things stood, the Radiotherapy Trust was assisting some cancer patients with travel to Dublin and Cork on a special bus that had been purchased through local fundraising. He complimented all the Trust members on all their great work.
A proud Waterford man, he went to school in the Old Bishop School on The Mall and was one of their last pupils. He grew up in Newtown where his father was a dentist and where his family had roots. Mr. Watson then went on to the medical profession having studies medicine in Trinity College. His grandfather came from Waterford and there are also other generations of the Watson family here with his son also working here as a medical practitioner.
Now retired, one of his big ambitions is to see a cure for cancer and he wished it could be achieved sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, it was a very resilient disease that, at its worst, was still beating the best doctors in the world.
He was thrilled and delighted with the Tower Hotel Award saying it gave him and his family great satisfaction. A brilliant speaker, he is the current President of the Royal College of Surgeons. Waterford is fortunate to have such a great man in our midst. We look forward to hearing more of his wisdom in the future.
