Dr Robin Trevor Pinto

Robin was born in India on 20 October 1939 into a cultured family: his mother was a professor of English and his father was an army medical officer.

Robin qualified in medicine at the Medical School of Jabalpur, Madyha Pradesh, India, in 1961 winning the Gold Medal. In the UK, he achieved further academic successes: the LMSSA, 1967; MPhil London, 1970; FRCP (Glasgow), 1970; and FRCPsych, 1978.

Robin arrived in Britain in 1965 full of self-confidence, after a glittering student career. Flirting briefly with a career in cardiology, he found his passion and niche in psychiatry, undergoing specialist training at the Maudsley. He became a consultant at the early age of 31 and dedicated his life to the care of patients in the health service, which he loved. He was always a general psychiatrist but his interests also included forensic psychiatry, eating disorders and prison work: his innovations in intensive and secure unit psychiatry saved millions of pounds and created a global effective service.

His work ethic was recognised by his colleagues with respect and awe; for example, he suffered major burns in 1986 and returned to work after 3 days, his hands still in plastic bags.

He reluctantly took on the role of First Medical Director to the Trust, which he typically fulfilled to an exemplary standard, but in recent years, he was frustrated at changes in service provision, which he felt were counter to patient care.

Later, he enjoyed a role within the Criminal Injury Compensation Board where he jousted with Cherie Blair in her barrister role and was rewarded with an invitation to Downing Street to share his views.

Always supremely confident in his ability, an apocryphal story of his clinical style was when, at the age of 64, he persuaded a challenging patient in a secure unit to accept treatment by beating him in a game of badminton. The patient, a county player himself, had no idea that Robin had been in his youth a junior state champion and a national badminton finalist in India.

Robin always devoted himself to more clinical work, rather than to research or academic work, but, nevertheless, he did leave his mark on these fields also. His MPhil thesis, presented at the Institute of Psychiatry, was the first piece of research on South Asian immigrants to England and their psychiatric problems. His findings of that work still hold good today.

A job with Dr Pinto was the most highly prized assignment which could be achieved by the trainees of his Trust. Robin was a brilliant teacher, and his ward-rounds were an extremely enjoyable experience. His letters which summarised complicated problems and proffered clear solutions to difficult cases, became a byword for precision and clarity.

Robin was always supportive of his junior staff and was always clearly pleased when one of the doctors he had mentored achieved some important objective in their careers. Many of these doctors became family friends of the Pintos, and would continue to rely on Robin for help and encouragement long after their training was complete.

Robin was also greatly supportive to doctors in the local community who encountered problems in their professional and in their personal lives. His view always was ‘It costs nothing to help’. His clear thinking was a source of help to many, and in this way he was a great support not only to the psychiatrists of South Bedfordshire, but also to the general practitioners of the area and ultimately to the wider South Bedfordshire community.

Robin died unexpectedly from a myocardial infarction in Rome on 25 April 2008. At his funeral, Robin was referred to as the ‘father of psychiatric services in South Beds’. His role in service provision and patient care was recognised in the renaming of his psychiatric unit as the Robin Pinto Unit in July.

Robin leaves his wife, Raynah, to whom he was completely devoted, three children and five grandchildren.