Introduction of the National Health Service

Описание: Interviews with Dr James Syme, Dr James Gray and Dr James Williamson regarding the foundation of the National Health Service.

Dr James Syme was born on 25 August 1930 in Lochgelly, Fife. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1954. After house posts at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary he entered the Royal Army Medical Corps and was posted to the Military Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria. He went on to study and work in Glasgow, and specialised particularly in the care of children and families, particularly in relation to new-born-babies and breathing difficulties.

Dr James Allan Gray was born in Bristol in 1935 to a medical family; both his father and grandfather were fellows of the College. Gray studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and later became a Research Fellow at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He held posts at both Bristol Royal Infirmary and the Royal Free Hospital in London before taking up the post of consultant in communicable diseases at Edinburgh City Hospital from 1969 to 1995. Gray was Assistant Director of Studies at Edinburgh Postgraduate Board from 1976 to 1984.

Dr James Williamson graduated from Glasgow University in 1943 and was initially a consultant in chest medicine. He took up his first consultant post at the Royal Victoria Dispensary in Edinburgh in 1954. He later changed specialities to geriatric medicine and published a paper in 1964 in the Lancet which examined the medical needs of older people in the home. Williamson became a key figure in the development of geriatric medicine, encouraging cross-speciality working to develop at-home treatments for the aging population.

• OBJ/ORA/1/39 – Interview: Syme, James (RCPE)
• ‘The new National Health Service / prepared by the Central Office of Information for the Ministry of Health. Leaflet.’ (Wellcome Collection. CC BY)
• OBJ/ORA/1/21 – Interview: Gray, James (RCPE)
• OBJ/ORA/1/42 – Interview: Williamson, James (RCPE)

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