Norman Jones was one of the cadre of young physicians who embraced the new medical subspecialty of nephrology in the 1960s when renal biopsy, dialysis and transplantation made it a worthwhile clinical discipline. He was Consultant Physician at St Thomas’ Hospital, London from 1967 to his retirement in 1993. He was both a generalist and a specialist but served his profession in many other ways.
He was born in Rhymney, Wales and schooled at Christ College , Brecon. After National Service in the South Wales Borderers, the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and the RAMC, attaining the rank of Captain, he went up to King’s College Cambridge as a scholar to read Natural Sciences. He was awarded a 1st in both parts of the Tripos. His clinical training was at St Thomas’ where he qualified in 1956. After hospital posts he was a Rockefeller Fellow at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina in 1963-1964. He was then Lecturer in Medicine at St Thomas’ until his appointment as consultant in 1967. He was an admired senior registrar because he was so meticulous that his seniors could rely on him to look after their patients at the weekend without needing to intrude. In 1966 he was awarded the Raymond Horton-Smith Prize for the best MD thesis of his year at the University of Cambridge. Academic nephrology was then dominated by the study of the physiology of the normal kidney rather than its diseases and the consequences of kidney failure. It was to these latter challenges he turned his attention. He, with Dr Anthony Wing established the dialysis and transplant programmes at St Thomas’ Hospital. He was elected FRCP in 1970. The St Thomas’ medical registrars remember him for his gruelling work schedule, eschewing “office hours.” His nickname was Concorde because of his aquiline profile and speed. He was regularly consulted on renal patients, recommending 500mg of furosemide for oliguric patients. This was called, ”Giving a Norman.” His trainees remember him as fair, generous and hospitable but not one for idle badinage. He was assiduous in his NHS work and required a link and liaise telephone call between 6.30 and 7.30pm.
His research contribution, both in the laboratory and the clinic were also substantial. He had a lifelong interest in cation physiology, pathophysiology in renal disease, and in hypertension. His early work on potassium was with Michael Barraclough, Stephen Semple and Ivor Mills at St. Thomas’s; after which he spent time in the USA with Carl Gottschalk and Lou Welt at Chapel Hill where he continued the work using micropuncture of renal tubules. He also studied vasopressin and angiotensin, then a new subject. From the 1970s he performed a number of studies using leucocyte sodium and potassium concentrations and transport in hypertension and uraemia. He contributed to clinical studies of nephrotic syndrome and had a long-term interest in amyloidosis and renal pain.
His wisdom and judgement were much in demand and like many effective people he served several organisations apart from his hospital. He was an honorary consultant physician to the Metropolitan Police, the Army, the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the Equitable Life Assurance Society and Vice Chairman of the West Lambeth Health Authority. He served on two major public enquiries, one on “Gulf War Syndrome” and the other on “NHS Supplies Contaminated Blood Products.” Both were controversial issues. He with others helped to establish renal services in overseas countries.
He gave much to the Royal College of Physicians. He was an Examiner, Senior Censor and Vice President 1989-1990, Treasurer 1991-1996 and Chairman of the Committee on Renal Disease 1980-1992. For a while he was one of the troika of President, Registrar and Treasurer that effectively ran the College. He was in charge of the wine cellar and an expert on claret being a Jurat of the Jurade de St Emilion, a role that comes with a gorgeous red robe. He will be remembered for helping to raise £1.8million for building an extension to the College and for the regionalisation of College activities. This included the establishment of Regional Offices and annual visits to the regions by the College Officers which were started by Dame Margaret Turner-Warwick and continued by her successors.
His very wide knowledge of nephrology made him an ideal editor with Sir Douglas Black of the 4th Edition of Renal Disease, the 1975 Recent Advances in Renal Disease and with DK Peters Recent Advances in Renal Medicine in 1982.
He was the Honorary Secretary of the Renal Association 1967-1971 and this would have required him to organise the annual meeting in London including the stapling of the abstracts. He was later the Treasurer, on behalf of the RA, of the 1987 International Society of Nephrology meeting held in London. His calm hand guided the organising committee through the challenges of the bankruptcy of the conference organisers and the threats to the attendance of US delegates by the coincidence of the weakness of the dollar against the pound, the IRA’s activities and changes to tax allowances for conference attendance. The meeting made a small but useful profit.
He developed a private practice which attracted patients with a variety of illnesses including the somatoform pain disorder, Loin Pain Haematuria Syndrome. His series was very large and the description in the Transactions of the London Medical Society is a classic. Some of the sufferers did not have their own blood in the urine as Norman discovered when on microscopy the red cells were found to be nucleated. This caused him concern for his patient’s parrot.
Norman was a tall man with a magisterial presence, immaculately dressed, softly spoken, usually enquiring about the welfare and interests of others and reticent about himself. It was not difficult to see why he inspired confidence in his patients and colleagues. A former Registrar of the RCP, Dr David London, with whom he worked described him thus, “He was very clever, very wise, very courteous, very charming, very supportive and a delight to work with.” In a way he looked like an owl and behaved like one.
He married Ann Chavasse in 1958 and she survives him. They have three sons; Christopher, Richard and Michael. Norman retired to Hampshire where he pursued his scholarly interest in iconography and music. His mobility was in later years blighted by spinal canal stenosis. He died in his 89th year in a care home near where he lived in the New Forest.
