Ashford and St Peters Hospitals NHS Trust

This is the time of year when exam results seem to count for everything and decisions about which career path to follow can appear daunting and irreversible.  But, don’t think things cannot be changed later – because they can, and Dr Stephen Evansif a fine example of how a career change can give immense satisfaction.

Go for it!  That’s the advice from Dr Evans to anyone wondering whether they can change their career and take up medicine as a career. 

He speaks with the voice of experience, having had a very varied work background, including driving Routemasters on routes 137 and 2B, before beginning to study medicine at the age of 26.

Dr Evans is now a Consultant Physician and Gastroenterologist at the Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust. He believes people should not be deterred by thinking that the conventional way into medicine has to be shortly after “A” level exams.

He said: “Go for it! There is nothing like going for what you want to do and not everyone has their life mapped out at 18. If you’re good enough there is no limit to what you might achieve and you’ll never know unless you tried. If you knock on a door often enough it usually opens.”

At school he had been told that it was too late to switch from Arts to Science subjects, so he continued and went on to do a German degree. Later he began work as a driver, passing his PSV driving licence exam in 1979.

Said Dr Evans: “I spent the best part of two years driving Routemasters - the archetypal London double-decker- out of Victoria Garage (long since demolished). My routes were the 137 and 2B – both long north-south routes – with a wide variety of clientele from diverse parts of town such as Streatham and Sloane St. I loved the job.”

He followed that job by spending a year as a plumber in a building partnership he set up in 1981, doing contracts for South London housing co-operatives.

To re-route his life he took himself off to night school and in one year successfully studied and passed three A-levels in Science with good grades. Aged 26, he gained a place at University College Hospital.  While a medical student he drove coaches for the Westminster Play Foundation, taking youngsters on trips during school holidays.

After qualifying in 1989 he worked as a junior doctor at the Whittington Hospital, Highgate Hill, where the energy and enthusiasm that Consultant Gastroenterologists Robin Vicary and Eric Beck had for their work made such an impression Dr Evans decided to follow suit. Gaining experience took him from St.Thomas’ Hospital, where he did research work with Sir Richard Thompson, KVCO, the Queen’s Physician, now retired; to Brighton; to New Zealand where he worked as a Registrar; and to Swindon as a Locum Consultant. He was based at Ashford Hospital as a Locum consultant in 2003 before becoming Consultant Physician and Gastroenterologist at the Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust in June 2005.

Said Dr Evans: “People should not be deterred from looking at a career in the NHS, at whatever level, just because they have been doing something vastly different for a number of years. I enjoy my work and feel it was well worth the effort involved.  I like the hands-on, demanding nature of the job, particularly the therapeutic Endoscopy part of it.  

“Therapeutic Endoscopy means not just looking with the endoscope to achieve a diagnostic result but actually doing something while you're there with the scope and its attachments - like removing polyps or dilating strictures. These procedures are much simpler done endoscopically and can save people having operations.

“One of my main interests is inflammatory bowel disease – such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease – although the diagnosis is sometimes difficult to make. Being able to access the lower small bowel (terminal ileum) reliably with the endoscope has clinched the diagnosis of Crohn’s for a number of my patients who had been labelled with irritable bowel syndrome previously, and now they can benefit from effective treatment.”

Dr Evans, 50, is married with four children.  In his free time he is busy with his home life and when they have the opportunity the family visits mainland China – his wife’s home country. He is also trying to master the language.