Doctor is retiring after 30 years of tireless HIV work

A DEDICATED physician who spent three decades working in the Capital to combat HIV infection will retire tomorrow.

Doctor Ray Brettle, who lives in Balerno, graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in medicine in 1974. Five years later, as a young doctor, he took up the position of senior registrar at Edinburgh City Hospital's Regional Infectious Diseases Unit.

Dr Brettle, 60, went on to gain a fellowship to North Carolina where he encountered some of the first cases of Aids in the world.

He returned to Edinburgh City Hospital in October 1983 to take up a consultant's post, and also lectured tirelessly on the dangers of HIV infection at Edinburgh University's medical school, among many other places.

In 1985, the test for HIV became available and it was discovered that there was a very high level of HIV infection in Edinburgh.

Single-handedly, and against much opposition, the father-of-four obtained funding for a counselling and testing clinic at the Edinburgh City Hospital, which was set up in October 1985 and allowed drug users – and anyone else who thought that they may have been at risk of HIV infection – to be tested.

In the first six months, more than 200 drug users attended the new clinic. Around two-thirds of people attending the clinic were HIV positive.

Dr Alison Richardson, 57, a retired consultant clinical psychologist who worked with Dr Brettle from 1986-2008, said: "It was difficult for this group of patients to trust any figures of authority. From the early days of the clinic, when the patients were often suspicious, angry and frightened, they all came to love the man who had – from the start – wanted to care for them and prevent the onward spread of the infection."

She added: "These were difficult and fraught times for Dr Brettle and other staff in the clinic. Knives, guns and hammers were not in short supply among the patients in the early days and there were real episodes of danger."

Despite a heavy workload, Dr Brettle was, and still is, an academic and researcher. He was awarded a gold medal for his M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) in 1995, where he documented all the research that he had carried out in the field of HIV medicine in Edinburgh.

Dr Brettle also became an adviser to Malaysia, which was experiencing similar problems with HIV infection in injecting drug users.

He continued to care for his patients until August 2008, when ill-health forced him to leave the Regional Infectious Diseases Unit, of which he was previously clinical director for over ten years.

Dr Brettle is looking forward to spending time with his wife, Helene, four children and two grandchildren, as well as mapping his family tree.

He will celebrate his retirement with a party for family and friends at Dr Richardson's home in Edinburgh tonight.

Dr Richardson added: "All of his colleagues, friends and patients will remember him best for his unfailing kindness, compassion and care for his patients.

"There are many remarkable stories of his care, which often went miles beyond the call of his profession."