Dr John Desmond (Des) Gaffney, who has died aged 92, was a notable contributor to the development of the specialty of anaesthesia in Ireland.
Born in Mountjoy Square in Dublin, later moving to Clontarf, he went to secondary school at Belvedere College and then the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in September 1939, graduating in 1944.
He worked as a house officer in Mercer’s Hospital for several years before setting up a general practice in Dublin. Like his father, Dr Patrick Gaffney, he combined a career in general practice with a career in anaesthesia.
As an anaesthetist he worked in Mercer’s, the Richmond, Peamount, Cherry Orchard, Hume Street and Newcastle hospitals. Additionally he provided critical care and ventilator management as required and was instrumental in the introduction of an “iron lung” for polio victims at the unit in Cherry Orchard Hospital. While working in Mercer’s he met Brona O’Farrell, a radiographer there, and they were married in 1952.
After over 13 years of general practice and with a young family to support he decided to leave the precariousness of a single-handed “lock- up” general practice and go full-time into the fledgling specialty of anaesthesia in the late 1950s.
In 1960 he was appointed as full-time anaesthetist to the cardiothoracic unit at St Stephen’s Hospital in Cork. In the middle of the decade he moved to the main teaching hospital for the University College Cork medical school at St Finbarr’s Hospital.
Here, together with professor of surgery Michael P Brady, he worked tirelessly to improve services to patients. In conjunction with Dr David Seigne he set up the first purpose-built intensive care unit in Cork.
Appointed examiner
In addition to his clinical commitments, he was appointed to the board of the Faculty of Anaesthetists (now the College of Anaesthetists) in 1970, becoming honorary treasurer in 1971. He was an examiner in the final fellowship examinations over a long number of years and a part-time lecturer in UCC.
Des Gaffney’s management and people skills were recognised when he was appointed as a member of the commissioning team to oversee the transfer of clinical services from St Finbarr’s Hospital to the new Cork Regional Hospital, now Cork University Hospital. This transfer of services occurred in November 1978. He was asked to continue as chairman of the now large anaesthetic department in what was then the only level three hospital in the country, housing all the major specialities.
He carried out his demanding duties with diligence , professionalism and untiring conscientiousness, ensuring that the expansion and developments begun in St Finbarr’s were seamlessly continued to the benefit of patients.
He dealt with his consultant and junior colleagues in an understanding and unpretentious manner and was always looked upon as someone to turn to with a problem. Behind his open, gentle and understanding demeanour lay a personality of the highest integrity, honesty and fairness. In the face of injustice there was nobody better to have by your side.
Any spare time that Des Gaffney had was spent with his Belfast Lough dancer class yacht, one of only two in existence, which was moored at Crosshaven.
Des Gaffney is survived by his widow, Brona, and by his children, Norma, Robert and Tom.