Does Anyone Know Where I Can Find The Medical Directory From 1984-1988?

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

The Medical Directory lists names and addresses of doctors from 1845. From 1858 all doctors had to be registered, with details published in the annual Medical Register. However, the National Archives only seem to go up to 1959. I am trying to find out the name of Doctors listed at a certain health centre in Lancashire in 1987. Please can anyone help?

[albaqwerty]

Hazi, I've search-engined and there are so many health centres to choose from.

Worden Medical Centre
Winyates Health Centre
The Central Surgery
Price's Mill Surgery

and the list goes on lol

Have they merged with another practice?
Have you search-engined name of practice and the year to see if that throws any light on it?

I wish you well in your search

[dannyk13]

Hazi, the Health Centre should be able to assist you (if it still exists)

[Buenchico]

The only copy from that period which I can find offered for sale is ruddy expensive!
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=21402764782

The British Library doesn't hold any copies. (I've checked).

Perhaps the BMA has a copy?
[email protected]

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

Thanks for your very helpful replies everyone- the practice is still active but I am actually researching on behalf of a family who believe one of their parents was given a lethal (morphine or similar) injection without consent leading to sudden death, so I am, at this stage, unwilling to consult the practice. The practice in question (I can't name the doctor as the family are elderly cannot remember his name, although say they would know it if they heard it). If anyone can help, the practice in question is Ashton on Ribble Surgery on Pedders Lane in Preston and the alleged incident took place in 1987. For security purposes, can I just say at this stage that there is absolutely no evidence, and no official investigation underway. It is a private family project. I will follow the leads given so far, and hope someone can pinpoint the doctor so I can pass the full information onto the relevant authorities.

[albaqwerty]

curioser and curioser....
don't know if they can be of any help
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/a?_ref=55

oh fiddle, that is NOT what I copied!!
sorry, back to the drawing board.

[EDDIE51]

I appreciate your trying to help them but I can't see any chance of being able to prove anything about a death 30 years ago that was not suspicious at the time. Apart from any other problems there is a good chance the doctor has passed away by now and there will be no medical records after so long.

[albaqwerty]

I can't find out who was a doctor in my own local surgery in 1987 - am I cynical about health professionals covering their own doodahs? :-)

Phone local NHS and come up with an excuse about why you want to find out is my last poor offering

[EDDIE51]

^ Yes tell them they are so grateful to the doctor they want to remember him/her in their will. That should get the name out of them.
Still can't see any chance of proving anything though.

[Buenchico]

Lancashie County Archives might have local newsletters, etc, from around that time, mentioning the names of the doctors at that practice:
http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries-and-archives/archives-and-record-office.aspx

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

Thanks again Eddie and Albaqwerty and others- appreciate your help on this. I very much doubt that anything well ever be proved- the family at the time were very suspicious but did nothing about it, because they didn't want any fuss. However a few years later, the doctor was apparently investigated after doing a similar thing at a nursing home, but the case was dismissed. I have contacted the local newspaper but can find nothing as I have so little to go on. There is every possibility that the doctor has passed away long since too, but the daughter has had years to think about it and wants the GMC or someone to know about her concerns without her getting involved in any criminal proceedings. I expect the subsequent Shipman case flagged up the failings within the system, but it's truly disturbing to think that the practise may have been more widespread than originally thought.

In this case the patient/victim was an elderly man in his eighties who had complained of chest pains and was consigned to sleeping on his sofa at home. On the morning of his death he was clear and lucid in his mind and had conversations with his wife and a visitor. The doctor called and after a brief conversation said, "I will just give you an injection to ease your pain." Both the visitor and the wife were in the room at the time. The doctor held the man's pulse and he was dead within a minute. The doctor showed surprise at the sudden-ness of the death, but said, "his heart was in worse shape than we thought" and was the signatory on the death certificate. It seems bizarre on hindsight, but the man's wife was not suspicious at the time, and although the family were, thought they were over-reacting and it wasn't until the other cases came up years later that their suspicions that he had actually been murdered (or at least helped on his way) came true. The family has sat on this far too long, and so many years have gone past they can't recall the details clearly. It really is just as a favour to help the old lady, and also out of personal interest, as my parents (deceased) also attended the same health centre during those years. I expect I will have to delete these posts as/when I do find out who the doctor was, as the chances of evidence ever making it to court are practically nil, I guess.

[Buenchico]

For information:

Ashton on Ribble Surgery no longer seems to exist.

Ashton Health Centre on Peddars Lane doesn't have any GPs based there. It simply hosts dental services, podiatry services and blood-testing facilities.

So it's unlikely that there will be any records there about the doctors who used to work at the former surgery.

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

Just to be clear, this was the man's second marriage, and his wife was almost half his age!

[Zacs-Master]

Could she start with a freedom of information request for a copy of the coroner's report (assuming there was one)?

[jno]

anything in your local library?

[albaqwerty]

that's a good idea Zacs.

However, if the Doc was satisfied with cause of death, then surely there wouldn't have been an autopsy?

Hazi, I'm only sorry I couldn't have been of any help. x

[EDDIE51]

As said very unlikely there was a coroner's report, there was nothing suspicious at the time. Would have gone down as natural causes. You could get a copy of the death certificate easy enough.

[atalanta]

There are 6 copyright deposit libraries in the UK which should have copies. It looks as if the Bodleian in Oxford has it. I shall be extremely surprised if the British Library does not have it, since it is obliged to keep all UK publications. It is also possible that one or two of the great medical libraries would have it, such as the BMA or the RCGP or the Royal College of Physicians.

[atalanta]

Oops. I should have said, " 6 copyright deposit libraries in the UK and Ireland"

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

Thanks, yes, the sad truth is no autopsy was conducted as the doctor was present at the time of death. I will try following up all the leads suggested on this post and see where it ends up. Thanks again everyone for your efforts today.

[albaqwerty]

please keep us up-dated Hazi, even if it comes to nowt.
Always nice to know what happens x