Founder

The founder and director of the Tokyo British Clinic is Dr Gabriel Symonds, a British General Practitioner who has served the foreign community of Tokyo since 1984.

A graduate of the University of London (1968), he has wide experience in general and family medicine and is one of the few foreign doctors licensed to practise in Japan.

Dr Symonds is married and has three children.

Undertaking

The staff of the Tokyo British Clinic promise:

to treat all patients to the best of their ability and with courtesy and consideration

not to divulge any information about patients without their express permission

to respect the rights of patients to be fully involved in decisions about their care

General Practice

A General Practitioner is a doctor who has had post-graduate training in a wide field of medical practice. This means that he or she can deal competently with the majority of patients' problems, including those of babies and children, and is able to recognise the more serious disorders requiring specialist attention or hospital admission.

Thus, a General Practitioner, having an understanding of the patient's medical history and family background, is in a position to provide appropriate treatment promptly and efficiently.

This is different from the usual system in Japan and the US where doctors mainly have been trained in one speciality. As a result, an important element of the initial assessment of illness - deciding which specialist to consult - is left to the patient himself or herself.