Now, if you were to stop ten people in the street and ask them what has advanced public health over the last century, the answers will be varied.
Top of the list I guess will be the creation of the National Health Service.
It is 70 years old and while it creaks in places, it is still a byword for all that a country should do for it’s sick, offering free care at the point of delivery.
For others it will be the mix of technology and spectacular new surgical approaches which allow us to transplant organs, and perform keyhole procedures which were only seen as fantasy just a few decades ago.
These are in direct contrast to operations undertaken without anaesthetics and antiseptics which were the norm before the middle of the 19th century and lead to the four minute operation, which aimed to slice open cut out and sew up, before the patient died of shock, loss of blood or contracted an infection.
And in turn, led to the famous “four minuter” with the 300% mortality record, which included the patient, one of the assistants and an observer.
But that is for a story from Tom Grimshaw’s talk on Thursday at Chorlton Good Neighbours in St Ninian’s Church on Wilbraham Road at 1.30pm.
Along with those spectacular advances in surgery, Tom will reflect on the steady advance of public health, which has been delivered through improved sanitation, clean drinking water, the defeat of a battery of infectious diseases, and better nutrition.
So it’s all there and more, on Thursday at Chorlton Good Neighbours in St Ninian’s Church on Wilbraham Road at 1.30pm.
Location; Chorlton
Picture, from an 18th century manual on surgery, and National Health leaflet, 1948, National Health Service Western Isles Health Board
It is 70 years old and while it creaks in places, it is still a byword for all that a country should do for it’s sick, offering free care at the point of delivery.
For others it will be the mix of technology and spectacular new surgical approaches which allow us to transplant organs, and perform keyhole procedures which were only seen as fantasy just a few decades ago.
And in turn, led to the famous “four minuter” with the 300% mortality record, which included the patient, one of the assistants and an observer.
But that is for a story from Tom Grimshaw’s talk on Thursday at Chorlton Good Neighbours in St Ninian’s Church on Wilbraham Road at 1.30pm.
Along with those spectacular advances in surgery, Tom will reflect on the steady advance of public health, which has been delivered through improved sanitation, clean drinking water, the defeat of a battery of infectious diseases, and better nutrition.
So it’s all there and more, on Thursday at Chorlton Good Neighbours in St Ninian’s Church on Wilbraham Road at 1.30pm.
Location; Chorlton
Picture, from an 18th century manual on surgery, and National Health leaflet, 1948, National Health Service Western Isles Health Board
Thanks for sharing this, Andrew. I was able to fit a visit to this talk into my afternoon's schedule. Although I live on the far side of Salford and don't regularly travel to the Chorlton side of town, it was surprisingly easy to get to by the Metro. As an ex-NHS employee, I found the subject matter interesting & the speaker entertaining. I also enjoyed chatting to a number of the regulars who attend that welcoming group. I wondered if I might catch up with you there. I obviously wasn't aware of your own health issues when we last met in Urmston earlier this year.
ReplyDelete