His first real House job was in Ipswich as a house physician, where he carried out varied duties including paediatrics. Through this he met the premature baby unit staff nurse, Molly Aiken, to whom he became engaged although they did not marry until after VE Day. Richard considered a career in paediatrics, but his revulsion at the death of some of the premature babies dissuaded him. Ever practical, Richard turned his hand to constructing home made incubators from scrap materials. With what success has not been recorded, but his activities incurred the wrath of Sister! This was before the days of ventilators and antibiotics. In the RAMC Richard served in Syria, Egypt and Palestine, and he took part in the Sicily Landings. He also served in an Indian regiment.

Richard was not demobilised until 1946. He had hoped to serve in the Far East after his marriage on 16 July 1945 but VJ Day intervened. Along with many other ex-service doctors, Richard faced fierce competition for advancement at home. The great smogs of the early 1950s influenced him towards becoming a chest physician. Between 1954 and 1959 he served as assistant geriatrician in the Bradford A & B Hospital Groups.

Home visits
In 1959 he was appointed consultant geriatrician and physician to Southend Health Authority. Richard was asked to stay on until he was 70 and he retired in 1986. He strove ceaselessly throughout his time in Southend to raise the standard of medical and nursing care for old people. He was determined to apply his first-rate standards primarily as a physician, actually treating, rather than simply accommodating ill old people. Voluntarily he visited the homes of old people on his waiting list to monitor who next should be admitted. He introduced the Zimmer frame to Southend health care, and possibly to the UK.

Devoted to the NHS
Richard was a staunch egalitarian, a man of principle who devoted his whole career to public medicine and the National Health Service. He was a great teacher, revered by countless GPs, junior doctors, nurses and hospital staff of all degrees, who were informed, entertained and inspired by his lectures, even if some of his jokes were a little esoteric.

Richard’s research interests followed his basic interest as a physician in chest diseases. The title of his MD thesis was “Cyanotic attacks in chronic lung disease”.

His many learned papers included case studies such as “Active pulmonary tuberculosis complicated by Addison’s Disease”, published in 1952, and an article in the Lancet 1980 entitled “Potassium and palatability”. Other titles include “Low nosetip temperatures in the old” (1975) and “The understanding of chronic bronchitis” (BMJ 1977).

My father and a cold nosetip

As a father, Richard Benians was witty, idealistic, innovative and inspirational.

His commitment to patient care and his egalitarian ideals came before personal interest throughout his career; in the early days with the RAMC, he was not afraid to tread on top brass corns in drawing attention to the poor state of health of the infantrymen’s feet. We understand that it was as a result of this that he was sent to an Indian regiment! And many years later, as a consultant, he dedicated himself entirely to NHS hospital work, rather than the more lucrative, or as he viewed it, ‘exploitative and elitist’ private practice.

The obituary mentions his ‘cold nosetip’ paper, which was typical of his innovative approach to life, both professional and private. Through intensive observation and monitoring of the great numbers of old people going through his care in his geriatric days, he observed that developing a cold nosetip was an indication that a patient was close to dying. It was very moving to see, during his final days as a patient back in Southend hospital, that from time to time, in addition to feeling his pulse, he felt the end of his own nose.

During this final stay in hospital it was nearly 20 years since he had retired, but it was very heartening at such a sad time to find so many members of staff who, though much younger and more junior in his day, remembered him with such affection and respect, and as someone who really made a difference to geriatric care.

Nikki Taylor (formerly Benians)
younger daughter of Dr Richard Benians