Tom Baker visits the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children

Stephen Willis, Archive & Library Assistant at the Centre for Research Collections, writes about Tom Baker’s visit to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children.

LHSA holds two photographs accessioned in 2011 showing the actor Tom Baker, who played the Doctor in the BBC science fiction series, Doctor Who, posing with nurses from the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children when he did a publicity visit in approximately 1977. In both images, the nurses are together holding his twenty-foot long scarf, which was a trademark of Baker's costume. 

Although public hospitals in Scotland have been funded through the NHS since 1948, they have still often looked for additional funding streams to augment this and have used publicity to increase awareness and remind potential donors that they still need help, which may be why this image was taken.

Tom Baker and a group of nurses hold the actors twenty-feet-long scarf.

 

Doctor Who (1963-1989, revived in 2005) is a famous British science fiction series about a humanoid alien, known only as the Doctor, who travels through time and space in a craft which resembles a police box. The series is known for periodically changing its leading actor, where he ‘regenerates’ into a new persona if he becomes old or suffers a severe trauma. Tom Baker was the fourth actor to play the Doctor on television and starred from 1974 to 1981.

Tom Baker was born in 1934 in Liverpool to an Irish Catholic family. He joined a monastic order between the ages of 15 and 21, but soon after he decided to become an actor. He appeared on stage and screen in a number of roles in the 1960s and 1970s, most notably an acclaimed performance as Rasputin in the 1971 film, Nicholas and Alexandra. However, his acting work had dried up and he was working on a building site to earn money in 1974 when he was offered the lead part in Doctor Who. His performance, which mixed offbeat eccentricity and humour with deadly seriousness, is often cited as one of the best of those actors to have played the role. During the 1970s, the series gained high levels of popularity with children and adults and was regularly seen by audiences of 11 to 12 million viewers in Britain. Therefore, at the time of the Sick Kids Hospital visit, Tom Baker was a celebrity who attracted a huge amount of media interest.

Tom Baker is known to have visited many places and events during the period he played the Doctor, such as Derry Christmas illuminations in 1978, both as a means of publicising the event and giving publicity to Doctor Who for the BBC. The character of the Doctor was immensely popular with children, so a visit to children in hospital would have been very exciting for the patients and provided a welcome distraction.

Tom Baker and a group of nurses pose at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children.

 

According to a 2002 interview between Scottish actor, Russell Hunter and the Edinburgh and Lothians Doctor Who Group, Edinburgh Evening News had asked Russell if he could think of any stars who might visit a hospital to raise its profile and he suggested Tom Baker. To their surprise, he did it. Hunter appeared in Doctor Who: The Robots of Death with Tom Baker, broadcast in January and February 1977, so the photographs are assumed to have been taken shortly after this. LHSA also has photographs of Russell Hunter planting a tree at Liberton Hospital.

In a 2014 interview with the Radio Times, the then star of Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi, cited a photograph of Tom Baker ‘…larking about with nurses during a visit to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children…’ as one of the images which reminded him of his responsibility in the role, presumably referring to one of these LHSA photographs.

These photographs are amongst a number in LHSA’s collections which feature well-known figures visiting Edinburgh hospitals. One of the earliest photographs of a celebrity we hold is that of Sir Harry Lauder, the music hall comedian visiting Bangour General Hospital in 1942.

Conservation (3): Bound Volumes and Architectural Plans

LHSA collections encompass a wide array of items that require specialised conditioning and conservation treatment: volumes of all sorts, loose leaf material, and objects... not to mention all our multimedia collections. In this blog, we shed light on the treatment of bounded volumes and architectural plans, with a focus on the conservation of David Bryce's plans detailing the rebuilding of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1729.

Examples of bound volumes in LHSA collections range from published books to annual reports, patient registers and ward journals. The 1999-2000 National Preservation Office Preservation Assessment Survey indicated that the bound volumes were in particularly poor condition. The damage sustained included degradation of and/or abrasion to the leather cover, warping or detaching of the boards and spine, mould damage and/or disintegration of the textblock (the pages). Damage may affect one or two volumes or all of a given series. Even where deterioration is relatively limited, for example, partial degradation of a leather binding, access can be problematic without causing further damage or transfer of dirt. In extreme cases, the damage may restrict access to the informational content of the volume.

Volumes have been prioritised for treatment according to condition, importance, and current and anticipated usage. Although work is largely undertaken by a commercial company specialising in the re-binding of books, extensive preparation and subsequent quality checking on completion is required in-house. All work is documented and carried out to the highest standards demanded by the LHSA Preservation and Conservation Policy. 

Wherever the condition of the item and the available funding allow, treatment ensures that damage to the textblock is addressed and as much of the original binding is repaired and retained as possible. For example, tears to the textblock were repaired, the spine was re-attached and the damaged corners consolidated for Volume 1 of the Physician’s Record dating from 1849-50.

Royal Edinburgh Hospital Physicians Record, Vol 1: before and after re-binding (LHB7/50/1).

Where the quantity of volumes to be treated is coupled with limited funds, treatment concentrates on repair to the textblock and replacement of the original case (i.e. front and back boards and spine). As much of the original binding is retained as possible by transferring endpapers, original labels and title pieces to the new binding. The composition of the new case is carefully selected to reflect something of the character of the original, or to visually replicate the appearance of volumes in similar or related series within LHSA collections. A sample of the original case is retained for reference. Examples of this treatment approach include the General Registers of Patients of the Royal infirmary of Edinburgh and the Royal Edinburgh Hospital (REH), and the Royal Maternity Hospital Register of Births.

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh General Register of Patients: before and after re-binding.

Treated volumes are provided with boxes wherever possible, for example, the REH press cuttings books. The press cuttings themselves were repaired and re-bound and a cloth-covered solander box produced for storage.

Royal Edinburgh Hospital Press Cuttings Volumes: before and after re-binding, and boxed.

A significant amount of re-binding and repair work has been carried out on important bound LHSA collections. This work has meant that these items continue to be accessible for research and have been stabilised in order to secure their long-term preservation. A considerable number of volumes in the collection continue to require treatment however, and a comprehensive list has been compiled of all damaged bound volumes held in order to direct further re-binding work.

Similarly, LHSA has a large collection of architectural plans, many of which are in poor condition and improperly housed. Conservation work is ongoing and plans from LHB7, LHB44 and GD16 have been treated to date. In addition, an important series of LHB1 plans from the office of David Bryce, which date from 1872 to 1877 and detail the re-building of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) in 1729, have undergone conservation treatment. These serve as a case study to illustrate the type of conservation work carried out on architectural plans in the collections.

Case study: Background

The Bryce plans were originally housed in the RIE Architect's Office. Some of the drawings were dispersed during a period of planned re-building of the Lauriston Place site during the 1960s, finding their way eventually to the National Monuments Record (Scotland). In 2001, they were reunited with others that had been transferred from the RIE to LHSA. Despite the impressive number of plans that have survived (72), it is also clear that others still remain unaccounted for. Given their cultural value, the plans held by LHSA were made a high conservation priority.

Case study: Condition

The plans are on good quality drawing paper and have been executed with black ink and coloured wash. Pencil annotations can be found, as well as various signatures and other ink inscriptions. Drawn overlaps are occasionally found attached.  Previous inappropriate handling and storage had resulted in heavy surface dirt and extensive physical damage such as creases, tears and losses, and clumsy local repairs were often present. Although the cloth backing to many of the plans had provided protection, the fact that they had been stored tightly rolled meant that accessing the plans without causing further damage was extremely difficult.

Tears and Creasing: before and after treatment.

Case study: Treatment

Treatment was undertaken by the LHSA Paper Conservator in 2000-2001 and included surface cleaning using a chemical sponge and eraser, and removal of previous repairs. This was done mechanically where possible, and steam or acetone applied only when necessary. Tears/losses were repaired/infilled using wheat starch paste and Japanese paper. The plans were then humidified and pressed and stored in custom-made Melinex® (inert polyester) sleeves. Photographic and written documentation of the treatment was also produced. Good quality plan chests were purchased to safely store the treated plans.

Humidification and Pressing: before and after treatment.

36 of the plans were then digitised as part of The Drawn Evidence project, funded by the Research Support Libraries Programme and led by Dundee University Archive Service. Its aim was to provide a representative sample of Scottish architectural plans, drawings and associated material accessible in digital format via the project website.

Conclusion

The level of conservation treatment undertaken on architectural plans is kept to the minimum necessary in order to enable the plans to be stored and accessed safely and effectively, and is carefully executed in line with guidelines on professional best practice. Work now continues with the other plans in the collections.

Spotlight On… (4): Dr Elizabeth Robertson, Consultant Physician, Royal Edinburgh Hospital

The Royal Edinburgh Hospital (REH) celebrated the 200th anniversary of its first patient intake in 2013. In readiness for this, LHSA staff were busy working on the remaining uncatalogued records it holds relating to this famous hospital. Amongst these are the correspondence and personal papers of Dr Elizabeth Robertson, who was appointed Assistant Physician in 1947.

Dr Robertson had a particular interest in Pick’s Disease, a disease with similar symptoms to Alzheimer’s which at the time could only be accurately diagnosed post mortem.  Her papers include a number of case studies of patients with the disease at the REH and drafts of articles she wrote on the subject.

Her personal correspondence gives more insight into her personality. She subscribed to the Edinburgh University Tea Club, for example. She also made an appointment at Antoine’s, a hairdressers in London, on the recommendation of a local Conservative Party candidate!

A letter to confirm Dr Robertson's lectures on psychiatry to student nurses, 1955 (LHB7/56/2).

A signed article by Dr Robertson that she wrote with Dr Karagulla, 1955 (LHB7/56/2).

She retired in 1970 and died in 1985, leaving a substantial bequest to the University of Edinburgh. This was to be used for additional library purchases in neurology and psychiatry and was in memory of her late father, Donald Robertson.

Tales from the Archive (3): Women and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 1870-1950

This was a period of huge change in medicine, and with the opening of the then brand new building at Lauriston Place in 1879, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was at the forefront of healthcare in Edinburgh. At this time, not one but two revolutions were underway for women associated with the Infirmary: radical changes to nursing and the challenge for women to receive medical training.

Nurses

Florence Nightingale’s Training School for Nurses at St Thomas’ Hospital in London was opened in 1860. This introduced a greater degree of professionalism to nursing, turning it into a career for educated women. There was a movement to formalise procedures and create high standards for all nurses to attain. Taking note of these changes, the managers of the RIE instituted a probationary period of training and a higher wage to attract “a better class of woman” to the profession. A Lady Superintendent of Nurses, Elizabeth Barclay, was appointed in 1872, and the RIE Nurse Training School was founded in the same year. The School gained an excellent training reputation, and RIE-trained nurses went on to take up positions all over the world.

Angelique Lucille Pringle, Lady superintendent of nurses, with a group of senior nursing staff ( Miss Ferguson; Miss Grant; Miss Reith; Miss FE Spencer; Miss Wade) at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, c.1880 (P/PL1/S/257).

 

Female Medical Students

Whilst these changes in nursing were taking place, another set of women were fighting hard to overcome institutional barriers. Female medical students, led by Sophia Jex Blake, recently given permission to receive a medical education at the University of Edinburgh in 1869, were effectively prevented from completing their training when the RIE refused to allow women the clinical instruction necessary for qualification. Whilst a wider public debate raged on the issue, Peter Bell, clerk to the managers, sent a letter to all medical and surgical staff asking whether they were in favour of admitting female students on the same terms, and at the same times, as male students. Of the 19 responses we hold in the Archive, only three were in favour. William Walker’s letter typifies the response of the majority; not only did he think that examination by a mixed class of students would be “repugnant to patients” but also that “many examinations and operations are offensive in nature and could not be undertaken before a mixed class without violating the feelings of propriety and decorum”. Despite this, in December 1872, the Board passed a motion to allow female matriculated students of the University to receive clinical instruction but at a separate hour to the male students and only in certain wards. They were not permitted to view post-mortems, to see major surgical operations, nor to act as clerks and dressers.

William Walker’s letter (page 2) (LHB1/73/1/7).

 

Female Medical Graduates

This did not deter an increasing number of women from gaining medical degrees. Over time, female medical students achieved more concessions and larger numbers of women began to apply to study medicine. During the First World War, there was a sizeable increase in the numbers of women matriculating as medical students, rising from 106 (versus 962 men) in 1914-15, to 373 (versus 1,310 men) in 1918-19. Provision was made at this time to, as far as possible, allow instruction on the same basis as men. Medical and surgical staff were depleted, some on foreign service and those at home were overworked, often doing extra work in the war hospitals that had sprung up in the city. It was not until 1927, however, that female medical students were able to obtain clinical instruction on medical wards in mixed classes. And it would be a further nine years before the same was true of the surgical wards.  Differences were highlighted in not so subtle ways as the syllabus booklets below show.

 

Syllabus for the use of Male Students attending the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, summer term 1925 (LHB1/113/1/1).

Syllabus for the use of Female Students attending the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, summer term 1925 (LHB1/113/1/2).

 

Residency at the RIE

As well as being able to receive clinical instruction and graduate in medicine, women wanted the right to apply for residency at the RIE. After graduation, a medical student had to serve a practical apprenticeship. To do this, he or she had to obtain an approved appointment as a resident House Officer in a hospital. Residencies at the RIE were considered to be prestigious, although before 1948 the position was unsalaried. The usual period of service was six months, rising to 12 months in 1950, six of which were spent attached to medical wards, and six to surgical wards. Although female residents were admitted from the 1920s, they were not permitted to live in the Residency itself. In the 1940s, this led to another fight for the female residents to be allowed to live in the Residency ‘mess’ (the residents lived within the Infirmary building in the Residency, each new intake forming a separate ‘mess’). The Residency contained a sitting room and a dining room as well as bedrooms. Food was supplied from the Hospital kitchens. A letter from 1945, written by the mess secretary, shows that a proposal to allow women to live in the mess was not very popular. In fact, they viewed it “with much concern and annoyance”. Women did eventually win the right but were allowed access to only one bathroom upstairs and were not permitted to attend the two annual formal dinners!

It’s easy to take for granted the standards of service we have in nursing today, and the equality of opportunity for men and women to obtain medical training. This has not always been the case and we owe a debt of gratitude to those first women who paved the way and challenged societal norms.

International Women's Day 2025 #AccelerateAction

To mark International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we delivered a presentation for NHS Lothian’s Women’s Network to highlight the instrumental role of two pioneering women who held very different roles but whose career paths converged in the mid-1980s to tackle a major health crisis. The theme for this year's IWD is #AccelerateAction and, with this in view, Dr Helen Zealley and Dr Jacqueline Mok played an essential part in establishing a response to critical issues that affected the health and wellbeing of the people in Lothian.

Dr Helen Zealley completed her studies in Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. In the 1970s, she became involved with the emerging speciality of Community Medicine, specialising in Maternal and Child Health within the children’s service of the Edinburgh Public Health Department for 10 years. She was appointed Director of Public Health (DPH) – also known as the Chief Administrative Medical Officer (CAMO) – of Lothian Health Board, which later became NHS Lothian in 1998, and Executive Director of LHB in 1991, a post she held until her retirement. During her career, she encountered challenging periods for Lothian Health Board, such as initiatives to combat the high rate of HIV infection in Edinburgh and a financial crisis in the early 1990s.

As the Director of Public Health, Dr Zealley was involved, directly or indirectly, in all the developmental aspects of Lothian Health Board during the period. These included policies, strategic planning processes and frameworks, service provision, operational plans, efficiency savings, and auditing… all of which are evidenced in our archive.

LHB Smoking Policy, Promotional leaflet (GD25/1/1/1/2)

LHB Smoking Policy, 'Smoking Prevention, A Health Promotion Guide for the NHS' promotional booklet (GD25/1/1/1/2)

However, the hardest challenge she had to face, at least during the first years of her tenure, was the government’s white paper Working for patients published in January 1989. In short, 1990 was a year of significant change and turbulence for the NHS both nationally and locally since a new form of healthcare was established whereby health services and long-term care were to be planned and managed as a competitive market. Within this system, Health Boards were to assess the “health needs” of the population for which they are responsible and place contracts to “purchase” services to meet those needs from a range of “providers”, both locally and on a national basis, who were responsible for the day-to-day management of these services. NHS hospitals and clinics were also given the opportunity to opt out of their direct management links with Health Boards and form “self-governing trusts”.

Pamphlets like this were created as a response to the government's 1989 White Paper (GD25/1/1/1/23)

Dr Zealley was not onboard with this new form of healthcare as the right means to achieve improved service delivery and provision within the NHS. As she stated in a letter written to an external healthcare agency, ‘my problem is that I do not believe that the purchaser/provider split is a useful mechanism to achieve this – and I am deeply distressed by the signs of “competition” between our provider units amongst whom we have spent years developing a collaborative, integrated approach so that patients receive the most appropriate “package” of preventive, acute and rehabilitative care – irrespective of the provider of each component’. While she expresses a clear openness to change, she opposes the privatisation of health services. Dr Zealley was a leader, an influential woman, and a real decision-maker. Yet, although she held a prominent position within the structure of LHB, decisions dictated by the higher ups, or the Tory government in this case, escaped her control.

Excerpt from Dr Helen Zealley's letter to an external healthcare body in response to the government's White Paper (GD25/1/1/1/23)

Cartoon published in a newspaper critiquing the government's White Paper (GD25/1/1/1/23)

The reform resonated across the UK and received substantial media coverage, leading, unsurprisingly, to major disagreement and backlash from the Labour party. Their main claim was that the government’s ‘ideologically-driven view of healthcare as another commodity to be bought and sold in a marketplace, rather than a public service’ sought to benefit only a small portion of the population. While aspects such as poverty, unemployment, poor housing, and a polluted environment are essential to determine people’s health, the two-tier system established in the early 1990s resulted in that two patients with the same disease living in the same street and the same circumstances could be treated differently depending on what particular type of doctor they happened to have. This may well give an idea of the convoluted scenario in which Helen Zealley worked during the 1990s and how her role was impacted by the country’s political fabric.

Cover page of The Edinburgh and Lothians Post (published on week ending Saturday, 19 October 1991) (GD25/1/1/1/23)

Page from BMA News Review (January 1990) (GD25/1/1/1/23)

A few years before this, Dr Helen Zealley joined forces with Dr Jacqueline Mok to address the HIV/AIDS crisis affecting Edinburgh from the mid-1980s. Originally from Malaysia, from where she came from to complete her Medicine studies in Edinburgh, she was a Paediatric Consultant for Community Health, Lothian Health Board, as well as a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Children’s Health. Her research mostly focused on HIV and AIDS in infants and children, with a particular focus on mother-to-child transmissions. She worked extensively on research for HIV therapies that are not only safe for children, but also for expectant mothers. Her research expanded beyond HIV-infected children to include HIV-affected children. That is, children whose mothers were HIV positive. Dr Mok started a clinic for HIV-infected children at the City Hospital in the mid-1980s, the first of its kind in the UK. The clinic moved from this space and was granted use of Ward 8 (Ward for Infectious Diseases) at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

In October 1985, she was asked by Dr Helen Zealley to look after children born to women with HIV infection. At this time, Edinburgh was the first city in the UK to recognise that HIV could affect the non-gay community and that it was drug use that resulted in heterosexual spread; a third of drug users being young women of reproductive age. The uniqueness of Edinburgh in comparison to other places was that many young heterosexual men and women were HIV positive, but not ill.

Reducing Mother to Child Transmission of HIV Infection in the United Kingdom, April 1998 (GD59/1/2/3/2)

Dr Mok travelled to New York, New Jersey, and Miami to learn about the services that had been set up in these places, which were described as paediatric AIDS by Dr Arye Rubinstein in 1983. He established that transmission of AIDS can occur in utero and published his findings in 1986. After her trip, Dr Mok acknowledged that the HIV/AIDS programme in Edinburgh could benefit from her respiratory background since many children would present with pneumocystis.

The first reports of paediatric AIDS in 1983 talked about an acute life-threatening illness with a high level of mortality. When they eventually got that link of mother-to-child transmission, it was thought to be as high as 50% to 80%. It was almost certain that if you had a mother with HIV, you were likely to be infected, and then if you were infected, you would be dead within the first 5 years of life. However, paediatric AIDS turned out to be a long-term condition and not every child was going to be infected. The transmission rate they found from mother-to-child was less than 10%. And from those children with HIV in Edinburgh, many of them were very well, even before the days of antiretroviral therapy.

On the other hand, Jacqui encountered some adversity within NHS staff. When she was asked to set up a clinic for these children, a colleague told her, “Well, I hope you don’t share their cups with them, Jacqui!”, whereas somebody else asked her to keep the clinic at City Hospital as opposed to Sick Kids, where she was based at the time. This gives an idea of the high level of anxiety experienced by everyone. It was all doom and gloom. Nothing was known about transmission, which could be relatable to those who didn’t live through this crisis, but experienced the Covid-19 pandemic.

Community Child Health Research Report (GD59/1/1/5)

At the time of establishing this clinic at City Hospital, there was only one Ward for Children and all paediatric trainees were at Sick Kids with no rotation into City Hospital. Dr Mok would be called because they had no junior doctors who could assess the children. To exemplify, if they needed an intravenous infusion, she had to go and do it herself because the trainees were adult-trained. As for her team, it consisted of Dr Mok (half time), an MRC- funded research fellow for 3 years who was then replaced by a trainee, a paediatric trainee, a full-time health visitor, and a secretary working 17.5h. They were eventually joined by an obstetrician and a specialised midwife as well.

In 1989, she attended her first HIV international conference and as a result of meeting other paediatricians and epidemiologists, they started the European Collaborative Study (ECS), for mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In its hayday, Dr Mok received referrals from Edinburgh and the Lothian, Fife, Tayside, the Borders, the Highlands and Islands, and even northern England.

The Public Health Challenge, Outline Programme (GD25/1/2/2/2)

Excerpt from The Public Health Challenge, Outline Programme (GD25/1/2/2/2)

 

In the early days of the European Collaborative Study, she was always having to justify herself every time she was asked, “You’ve only got 150 children, why are you needing so much time?”. However, each child needed follow-up at one week, three weeks, six weeks, and then six-weekly until six months, three monthly until aged 2 years, and then six to twelve monthly. The reason for this was that they were looking for signs of infection.

They also had to speak to the mothers in the ante-natal period to seek their consent and explain the purpose of the study, and they all were very thankful that somebody was interested in them and their children. Our colleague, Louise Williams, who’s Archivist at LHSA, did an oral history interview with Jacquie Mok and Helen Zealley in 2018. In the interview, Dr Mok recalls that when women ‘were recognised to have HIV during labour, people would come into their rooms dressed in what they call “space-suits”, and then auxiliaries would open their door, put their meals in and then shut the door and run off’. Likewise, Dr Zealley confessed that it was ‘understandable that there was fear and there was a lot of blood and a lot of unknown’.

AIDS Guidelines for Social Work Personnel, December 1985 (GD59/3/2/2)

We often think of the role of medical staff from a clinical perspective. But, while Dr Mok was facing an unprecedented challenge, other associated challenges added pressure to her role: the human element. Jacqui ran community-based sessions. This means she didn’t wait sitting in her clinic for parents to show up. She proactively visited households to examine her patients and this involved encountering all sorts of situations. She recalls that mothers were always grateful for her visits and would comply with anything she asked from them. Many of these women were on their own, whereas, in other instances, Dr Mok would see a man in the house and assume he was the father without asking any questions. Fathers may or may not join their partners for the visit. It was rather common that they left the room during the blood-letting as they couldn’t stand seeing how the medical staff inflicted pain on the baby by putting a needle into their veins. Likewise, there were cases when they ended up shouting at her after trying to extract their baby’s blood several times.

The Sunday Times - "Born survivor", 15 February 1998 (GD59/1/2/1/2)

The Sunday Times - "Learning to live with the HIV virus", 15 February 1998. The page displays a photograph of Dr Jacqueline Mok (GD59/1/2/1/2)

Many of the mothers saw the birth of their child as an opportunity to stop using drugs, although there would still be mums who would continue to use them. At the time of the visit, Dr Mok wouldn’t know what state they would be in. They could be awake, or not, and there was no way to tell whether they would cooperate.

In those cases where women were deemed unfit to be parents due to their ongoing use of drugs, Dr Mok had to work with social workers and foster carers. For this purpose, she ran special training sessions to educate them about the needs of infected children and the risks they presented to their families. Some of these children ended up going to school and because of confidentiality, Dr Mok’s team didn’t disclose that a child was HIV-positive and, by extension, that the mother was positive too. Instead, they implemented a universal management of children who could be infected approach to every school and nursery, which was a success.

The case of Aileen Ballyntine received plenty of media attention and made Dr Mok realise that they might have more children affected by HIV rather than infected by HIV. Ten years down the line HIV-infected parents were getting ill, before antiretroviral therapy, and they would develop pneumocystis or suffer from encephalitis. Disclosing their secret to their children was a very sensitive thing for the mothers to cope with. A lot of these women, because of their drug use, didn’t have a support network and had distanced themselves from their families. They lived dysfunctional lives and were very unsupported. Others would have parents who rejected them. A ‘you brought it on yourself’ kind of situation. Some grandparents took care of the children instead of having them become fostered or adopted. In this scenario, many children born to HIV-positive mothers had behavioural problems, in particular during their adolescence, as this seemed to be the time when many of them found out their mum was going to die.

The Sunday Times - "Letting go of mum", 15 February 1998 (GD59/1/2/1/3)

The Sunday Times - "Families living on borrowed time", 15 February 1998 (GD59/1/2/1/3)

In the oral history interview, Dr Mok remembers one particular case of a child who turned out not to have HIV. The grandfather was desperately trying to do everything right for his granddaughter, feeling they had failed their daughter in the past and were trying to make amends. His wife became very ill and he brought the little girl to Dr Mok since he couldn’t take care of simple things such as giving her food because he couldn’t cook. He had relied on his wife all his life to raise their children and now felt powerless. In other cases, parents could not gather the courage to explain to their children why they were having their blood taken over the years and asked Dr Mok to speak to them. There is even a mention of a case when the father wanted to find and kill the person who gave his wife HIV after she was diagnosed with it. Dr Mok wore many hats. She was an HIV-specialist doctor, a counsellor, a social worker…

The mothers’ social spectrum remained a constant during these years. Unless children were fostered or adopted (this would be by more structured families), children would grow up within a disadvantaged and dysfunctional family system. It was in areas like Craigmillar, Niddrie, Muirhouse, Pilton, and Leith where HIV hit hard. We may think of Leith, for instance, as this trendy part of Edinburgh nowadays. A place with a lively cultural scene and full of nice cafes, bars, and restaurants. However, the reality was way different during the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Think of Trainspotting.

Some of the children from Dr Mok’s cohort became mothers themselves and coped with varying levels of success. Many mothers continued to lead an equally dysfunctional life and parenthood didn’t change that. Many of them are part of a cycle, or a loop, that goes round and round as that’s how their children are raised. They know no different and follow what their mothers say and do. Just like any other kid. But, to conclude on a positive note, Dr Mok stated that those cases who managed to break the cycle of deprivation managed to do well for themselves.

Disability Livelihood and Employment (3): The one with Tyne Lodge, the National Coal Board Medical Service, and Dingleton Hospital

In this week's blog, we're exploring three distinct records reflecting on disability livelihood and employment to say goodbye to this series.

In 1955, Tyne Lodge, the first outpatient unit at Astley Ainslie Hospital, opened. New inpatient facilities included a model coal face provided by the National Coal Board to help with the rehabilitation of miners, and a model of the back of a bus so people could practice getting on and off.

Tyne Lodge General Register of Patients, 1955-1973 (LHB35/4/3/1). Sample page showing the range of disabilities and health conditions of the Outpatient Unit.

The Tyne Lodge General Register of Patients records individual patients' attendances at the Rehabilitation Unit. Given the records cover the 1955-1973 period, they are classed as confidential and the images on this blog post have been redacted due to General Data Protection Regulation. Each line references the medical diagnosis of individual patients, while their disposal shows the patient's employment status after being discharged. It is worth highlighting two very different diagnoses that give a good sense of the variety of conditions treated at the Tyne Lodge Outpatient Unit.

 

DIAGNOSIS                                     DISPOSAL

Amputation rb. Leg mid thigh.          Light work. Second admission. Had a prior 20 

                                                         attendances between [dates redacted due to GDPR]

Hemipligia                                        To light job with some employers.

 

Hemiplegia is a very recurrent diagnosis in this volume. In its more severe form, it refers to the complete paralysis of one entire side of the body. It can result from a range of medical causes such as brain damage, trauma (injuries received through a fall, car accident, etc.), stroke, cerebral palsy, brain tumour, or diseases of the nervous system or brain. While the sample page above may suggest the unit focused on physical disability solely, mental health conditions are also reflected in its pages. The following image shows an instance where psychoneurosis was mentioned as a patient’s diagnosis. The record states that the ‘treatment has failed from a physical point of view but she is now attending Dr Macrae, psychiatrist, regularly for treatment’.

Tyne Lodge General Register of Patients, 1955-1973 (LHB35/4/3/1). The Unit did not exclusively focus on physical disabilities or health conditions. This page shows an example of a patient diagnosed with psychoneurosis.

The collection of National Coal Board Medical Cards (GD46) is a valuable source that provides insight into the numerous cases in which miners got injured or became physically disabled between the 1940s and 1980s. Amongst the most recurrent injuries and disabilities, there are mentions of slipped discs, punctured thumbs and big toes, strained backs and knees, bruises on feet/hands/arms, pustules on the knees, cut forearms/fingers, abrasion to fingers/legs/shoulder blade, jerked back/lumbar area, chest pains, and burst fingers. The medical card below shows the medical history of a patient who started to work as a miner at the age of 16 during the 1950s. They were diagnosed with 60+ injuries over a span of 20 years. Their medical history reflects the challenges associated with carrying out their work for decades in order to sustain themselves and provide for their family.

National Coal Board Medical Cards, 1940s-1980s (GD46)

The Dingleton Hospital magazine, ‘Outlook’, also reflects on issues around disability employment. This publication is an example of collaborative efforts between patients and staff that was described as ‘a worthwhile therapeutic venture’ by one of its readers. Its first issue was published in September 1963 and LHSA holds copies spanning the period from its inception until 1986. The first editorial column set the hopes and objectives for the magazine in the context of several changes taking place in the hospital at the time, both physical and in the approach to patient care. The editor wrote that, ‘It is with the idea of enlarging this brighter, and pleasanter community aspect of Dingleton that this magazine has been designed….We do not intend to fill this magazine with stuffy and high-brow technicalities, or to bore the readers with long unlimited surveys on medical history, but to fill its pages with good honest humour and humanity.’

Dingleton Hospital Magazine, "Outlook", December 1963 (GD30/15/1). The image shows an article titled 'Outside employment of patients' written by J. Smith.

Dingleton Hospital Magazine, "Outlook", August 1969 (GD30/15/1). The image shows an article titled 'Something About My Army Life' written by William Whitehead.

The December 1963 issue showcases the patient rehabilitation service delivered by the hospital. The author discusses the benefits of the professional scheme the hospital ran in partnership with Currie & Mills Ltd. Patients joining the scheme were exposed to a new environment and ideas while readjusting to a regular working pattern. The article points out that patients settled down quickly into the working routine with the scheme showing positive results for all parties involved.

Likewise, the August 1969 issue reminisces the challenges faced by WW2 soldiers through William Whitehead’s account. A war veteran at the time of publication, he discusses his partial deafness as a result of being shocked by an explosion in Algeria. Interestingly, Mr Whitehead continued to serve the army in the years to come by assisting with light duties in the cookhouse across different countries such as Italy and Austria.

Conservation (2): Condition Surveys and Re-Housing

Last month, we started a new series that explores the conservation work that cares for LHSA collections. LHSA has spent years establishing a conservation profile and now has an active programme of preservation and conservation work funded by the annual budget. Condition surveys are a pivotal aspect of this work and help us assess and prioritise items in need of interventive treatment and/or re-housing. In this blog, we look at why condition surveys are needed and sneak behind the scenes to enjoy some truly satisfactory before/after photographs of some of our re-housed collections.

Condition Surveys

A full understanding of the condition of the LHSA collections is necessary to inform priorities for preventive and interventive conservation treatment. To date, LHSA has carried out two National Preservation Office (now National Advisory Centre, NAC) Preservation Assessment Surveys; the first in 1999-2000 of the collection as a whole and the second in 2001 of the photographic material only. These surveys have helped establish and develop LHSA’s preservation and conservation programme and have provided supporting evidence for external funding applications.

Once priorities have been identified by the NAC Survey, more in-depth surveys of specific parts of the collections are carried out to determine which particular items need interventive treatment and/or re-housing, and to provide estimates for associated cost and time required. These surveys are not based on a formal model like the NPO Survey. Instead, the criteria for assessment and format for recording the data collated varies according to the type of material and proposed end use for the findings. Examples of this include a survey the Scottish Museums Council were commissioned to undertake in order to determine the condition of the object collection, and an in-house assessment to ascertain how far the repository met the specifications of BS5454:2000: Recommendations for the storage and exhibition of archival documents.

The survey data and written reports based on it are retained for comparison with future condition surveying in order to assess progress. The image below shows a bar chart from the 1999-2000 NAC Survey showing the anticipated impact of improved physical conditions for the collections: most items would be (2) low preservation need.

Re-housing LHSA collections

Many of the collections are accessioned with little, no or unsuitable housing, putting the items at risk of accelerated deterioration and/or accidental damage. LHSA has implemented a boxing policy to ensure that the collections will be provided with appropriate long-term housing. This will ensure that incident light damage and dust accumulation are reduced, ameliorate against any fluctuations in the ambient environment, improve handling and aid access. Boxing may also help ensure the most efficient use of available storage space.

Before and after: Correspondence from Jordanburn Nerve Hospital.

A range of standard size boxes and folders have been developed to meet the housing needs of the majority of the collections, particularly paper-based items in sheet format. Customised storage solutions for outsize items or those that have specific requirements, for example photographic material, are also provided. Wherever possible, re-housing is coupled with any interventive treatment required by the collection items.

Before and after: Object collection.

Original storage systems are kept where they pose no risk of damage to the collections contained. When replaced, written and photographic documentation of the original system is produced to record any additional information that would otherwise be lost.

Before and after: Patient index cards.

Before and after: Glass plate negatives.

Collections to be re-housed are prioritised according to physical vulnerability, demand for access and historical importance. The highest specification materials within the available budget are used and principles of best practice are adhered to. On entry, all new accessions are assessed and re-housed as necessary, and work continues to provide all collections with suitable secondary protection.