Health Service before 1948

[Barquentine]

I was just reading about the NHS on Wiki which says it was founded in 1948.
So, it occurred to me - when my mum was born in 1940 did my Gran have to pay for the midwife and to stay in hospital? What was the set-up before 1948? Did it vary from area to area? I expect you had to pay for your doctor, but what about midwifery and childbirth?

[Count-A-Strong]

See answer 2
http://uk.answers.yah...20080704035935AAQ9M6V

[cazzz1975]

a very interesting subject

http://docs.google.co...-snh8DbYY-1XIxcY5q9Sw

[hc4361]

It was common for women to give birth at home. The doctor and / or midwife would be paid and if there was no money, it was not unusual for the baby to be delivered by a relative, friend, or the woman down the round who did everyone.
Many people paid into a scheme for their routine medical care.

[Legseleven]

My mother was a district midwife in a very poor area of Birmingham during the war (Acocks Green).
When I was a child, I loved reading the book in which she kept records of all the home births - there were very few drugs available,and the only time the doctor was called was when there were twins or complications that required medical intervention.
I can't remember the names of the drugs,but they were given after the birth, presumably to help the womb contract after the placenta had been expelled.
Midwives in those days were trained to 'turn' babies in the womb during the late pregnancy so that the baby presented the head. Shoulder and breech births were the most difficult.
Looking back, the number of healthy births was very high indeed , and I remember her telling me that some people were so poor that the babies were delivered on newspaper,as that was all the parents had to cover the bed.
Maybe she even delivered some of the ABers! Just a thought!
The family still has and treasures her book.

[Sqad]

legseleven.......quite an interesting post....the drug was almost certainly ergometrine.

<<<and I remember her telling me that some people were so poor that the babies were delivered on newspaper,as that was all the parents had to cover the bed. <<<

1956...10 years later...my first delivery was in a high rise flat in the East End of London and there was newspapers on the bed and the surrounding floor.

[anneasquith]

the general hospital i trained in , in the late 60^s had been a POW camp, during the second world war.

[seadogg]

I remember that workers who were off sick were "on the club" and those who could, paid voluntary contributions to these sickness clubs. If you were ill as a child many home remedies were used before a doctor was called on. People who didn't have the money or clout were sometimes treated like cattle. Having tonsils out felt like being assaulted by a fierce looking man with a chloroform pad and as for the school dentist, it was like a scene from Dante's Inferno.

[masma]

My mum had 9 children and although I can't remember pre NHS she told me that when she was ready to give birth one of the "kids" had to run round the next road and get the lady to come and deliver the baby. I do remember some years later though - my dad had died in bed and my brother was sent to get the same lady to lay dad out. She charged 2/6.

[theprof]

I don't have many details about this but I know that my grandparents had to pay for healthcare as a family during the second world war years. This was done via a man who collected the fee weekly at their home.

By a peculiar twist of fate, the chap was also able to access "carbolic soap" via the black-market and hawked the soap at the same time as he collected the charge! Soap at the time was very difficult to acquire legitimately and as a boy, I constantly washed in the stuff. It's little wonder that the smell of phenol has turned my stomach for many years.

[Andyvon]

My father tells me now that one of his chores as a lad was to go to the doctor's every Friday and pay 7 shillings and sixpence for the family medical insurance. He was born in 1934.

[gazzawazza]

My two sisters and I were all born at home but my mam had complications during the birth of her second, Mandy. (I'm the youngest).
The midwife had to call the doctor out and, according to my mam and dad, he gave the midwife a right roasting when he got there. My dad even reckons that before the doctor arrived the midwife was panicking so much she gave herself a jab to calm herself down.
Now I don't know the details but i do know that my mam had to go to hospital, had an emergency blood transfusion and nearly died that night. She was in hospital for some time afterwards and why she ever had me I'll never know!
I know it was the done thing back in those days and obviously this was one of the births that went wrong but I can never understand why some women want to give birth at home.
Thinking about it, there's only ten months between me and my sister so after what our mam went through I suppose it's almost certain that I was a mistake!!!

[craft1948]

My sister was born in 1946 and me in 1948.....we were both delivered at home by my nan......

[Sqad]

,masma

<<<my dad had died in bed and my brother was sent to get the same lady to lay dad out. She charged 2/6.<<

My grandfather who brought me up died in bed after being diagnosed with "indigestion" and like your brother, I had to run, just under a mile, to get the "layer out" who was a woman, bring her back to the house and help to lay him out. As we turned him over, he "moaned" and I jumped out of my skin..."Dont worry she said "it is only the gases".....yeah right!

The Clinic doctors were invariably form the Indian Sub Continent, but were free(I think), but there was a rather expensive "private" doctor a Dr.B who charged half a crown a consultation and although this was almost a weeks housekeeping, my grandma would save up to see DrB "Cus he gave a better cough bottle"
Even in those days, even the very poor (as we were) it was thought and believed that "you got what you paid for"

Seadog

<<Having tonsils out felt like being assaulted by a fierce looking man with a chloroform pad and as for the school dentist, it was like a scene from Dante's Inferno.<<

LOL...that was a reflection of medical and dental knowledge, rather than the poor getting a raw deal perhaps.