Colleague pays tribute to '˜wise' Dr Geoff Slater

A popular doctor who treated thousands of patients in Wakefield has died aged 71.
TALK: Dr Geoff Slater, left, and fellow Southgate Surgery partner Stephen Wroe discussing work in 1991.TALK: Dr Geoff Slater, left, and fellow Southgate Surgery partner Stephen Wroe discussing work in 1991.
TALK: Dr Geoff Slater, left, and fellow Southgate Surgery partner Stephen Wroe discussing work in 1991.

Dr Geoff Slater, who was a family GP at the Southgate Surgery for 30 years, passed away on February 20 after a short illness in Pinderfields Hospital.

Dr Keith Souter, who was his partner at the surgery for 22 years, said: “Everyone knew Dr Geoff for his wit, his Geordie humour and his compassion for his patients, for whom he was always prepared to go the extra mile. He was a shrewd, wise doctor. I learned a lot of medicine from him.

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“He loved sport, having been a rugby player in his youth. He used to joke that it was rugby that caused him to become a doctor, because the enforced study time he had after he broke his leg playing rugby, enabled him to win his place at medical school.”

KEEN GOLFER: Dr Geoff Slater blasting out of a bunker in 1991KEEN GOLFER: Dr Geoff Slater blasting out of a bunker in 1991
KEEN GOLFER: Dr Geoff Slater blasting out of a bunker in 1991

Dr Slater graduated in medicine from Leeds University in 1968. He started his career intending to be a psychiatrist but he missed clinical medicine and decided to become a family doctor.

He joined the Southgate Surgery in Wakefield in 1972, which was just down from the old Wakefield Express building.

Colleague Dr Souter added: “Over the next 30 years he became an extremely popular doctor, who was deeply respected by patients and colleagues. He maintained his interest in psychiatry and also became a GP trainer.

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“In 1983 we both started writing the Doctor’s Casebook column in the Wakefield Express, until he passed it totally over to me so that he could concentrate on training young doctors.”

KEEN GOLFER: Dr Geoff Slater blasting out of a bunker in 1991KEEN GOLFER: Dr Geoff Slater blasting out of a bunker in 1991
KEEN GOLFER: Dr Geoff Slater blasting out of a bunker in 1991

After retiring from the New Southgate Surgery he continued as a locum at Alverthopre Surgery. He was also a keen golfer, a passion which he shared with his wife Ann, and was a member of Wakefield Golf Club for many years.

Dr Slater is survived by his wife, Ann, and by their five children, Sarah, Philip, Alistair, Amy and Anna, and their seven grandchildren.

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