THE third and potentially final instalment of retired Lifton GP Dr Michael Sparrow’s bestselling country doctor trilogy is out now.

Dr Sparrow has charted an unconventional course from the immaturity and uncertainty of life as a medical student, through hospital jobs and a six-year spell in the Royal Air Force, to the immaturity and uncertainty of life as a rural GP.

As one of the area’s longest serving GPs, Dr Sparrow has many interesting anecdotes from his 29 years in Lifton. His new memoir features stories from the frontline, working in the country practice along the Devon-Cornwall border.

It has been almost 20 years since Dr Sparrow wrote his first book, ‘Country Doctor’, and now, due to the extra time at home during the pandemic, he has been able to release a third in this enthralling series.

“I wrote the first one about 20 years ago when I was stuck at home recovering from an operation for an old rugby injury” said Dr Sparrow. “I wasn’t sure at the time if I’d be fit enough to go back to work and it was something to do to fill my time.”

After completing his first novel he still had a number of stories to share and following further back trouble Dr Sparrow set to writing a sequel — ‘Repeat Prescription’.

He had much experience in the field of writing, having previously provided articles for various columns and medical journals, but putting pen to paper for his own memoirs proved tricky — which of his many stories could he use?

“When I was writing these stories down I realised, especially when you are still practicing, you have to be so careful about what information you give away — even though there is more scope now that I’m retired, all the stories are true so I had to use artistic license to make it work.” Dr Sparrow was conscious of concealing his patients’ identities, however often this was in vain as patients eagerly used their detective skills to decipher whether they were in the books: “Like I say, all the stories are real — I would write them down and try to remember them as best I could, then change certain details, for example men to women etcetera to protect people’s identity.

“But, it’s surprising how many patients would say ‘am I in it’ or would offer their own stories. They were so keen to be featured.”

Throughout his three novels Dr Sparrow reveals with refreshing candour and dark humour the most memorable experiences of his career as a rural GP. From the call-out where he sewed a patient’s chiselled finger back on to the emergency countryside delivery inspired by James Herriot, to suddenly remembering the body he left in the back of a Volvo — not to mention a small oversight that blew up the local crematorium — Dr Sparrow’s adventures along the border would be utterly unbelievable were they not 100% true.

Dr Sparrow said he hasn’t ruled out writing another book, but jested: “We will have to see how well this book does first!”

n ‘Diary of a Rural GP; Hilarious True Stories from a Country Practice’ is out now.