Thoughts of Calum Smith on the impact of the National Health
Service on his home community.
(Some of these may relate to the Highlands & Islands Medical Service, forerunner of the national organisation.)
 |
| A View of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis |
[...]
About your query reference the
National Health Service, my recollection is of a revolution in attitudes
towards the seeking of medical attention. No longer did sufferers have to wait
until at death's door, before calling a doctor, because of fear of the subsequent
bill. Now immediate attention was freely available, with specialist or
consultant expertise if required. A far cry from the days when, for example, in
many villages, the only midwife available was an untrained local woman whose
only claim to any qualification was personal experience. In my own family
[myself and four siblings] were all delivered by Eilidh Mhor (Big Helen), a
near neighbour. It was only after we left Shawbost and moved to the outskirts
of Stornoway that my mother had the benefit of a District Nurse to help her.
But always there was the prevalent
fear of doctors' bills - probably stimulated in the Hebridean mind by the
recollection of the drastic consequences that could follow any form of debt
incurred, especially non-payment of rents. Your great-great-grandfather [named]
was evicted from his croft in Uig for rent-arrears, and landed with his family
on the inhospitable Atlantic coast at Shawbost. your great-grandmother [named]
was twelve years old. (A digression!)*
But among the G.P.s in rural Lewis
there were some Robin Hoods - they made sure they were well paid by those who
could afford it and sent no bills at all to the very poor. In fact my sister
[A] tells me that there was one practitioner (who shall be nameless), who when
he sent his bills actually sent a receipt to my mother.
But in spite of all the generosity
and dedication of many G.P.s, the great reluctance to ask for help remained.
So I suppose the main impact of the
introduction of the Health Service was the realization and acceptance by
ordinary people that medical help was available and that they did not have to
count the cost.
I hope that this is a help [...]
* For background on
the rent-arrears trap and its dire effects, see :-
1851 Diary by the Chamberlain (landlord's agent) -
1851 Diary by the Chamberlain (landlord's agent) -
p.20
Thursday 23 Jany. Wrote to the Lochs,
Uig and Barvas Ground officers at considerable length on emigration, stating
the offer made to the people by the Proprietor and directing them immediately
to make a tour of their several districts to ascertain what number will be got
to emigrate volun[t]arily -- There are two classes I would propose to emigrate,
first of all bad payers, say those in two years in arrear of rent if able bodied
& have no reasonable grounds of excuse for being so far in arrear --
Secondly -- I would propose to clear whole townships which are generally in
arrear and are not conveniently situated for fishing and can be converted into
grazings several of which are in the Parish of Uig...
p.32
Thursday 13 Feby. Walked to the Manse of
Uig... Went to the Parish School & found it quite crowded there being more
than 40 schollars [sic] present, and on enquiring the cause was told that Mr
Watson gave notice to the people that unless they sent their children to school
he would pindfold *[sic] every sheep & cow of theirs he found on his grass –
He expects to get the parents to attend his Church in the same way but I fear
he will be disappointed -- Met with the people of [4 place-names] and explained
to them the condition on which they were to emigrate... We fixed on sending
four families from Braenish none consenting [further details follow]... The
greater part of the people fixed on today for America are even now destitute of
food, several families have not even one meal of food -- Carnish should be
cleared altogether....
"*[pinfold] ...To confine in or as if in a pinfold. [Middle English pynfold, alteration of Old English pundfald : pund-, enclosure + fald, fold.]."
"No seer foretold the children would be banished/
That a degenerate lord might boast his sheep."
- Canadian Boat Song
- Canadian Boat Song
 |
| The diary includes many such tables, listing families' arrears and whether they were "willing" to emigrate |
also 13/2
(p.32) [R]eceived a dispatch from the
Sheriff with a parcel containing the Census papers -- With Mr Camerons [sic]
assistance divided the whole island into enumeration districts...
Friday 26
[September] Proceeded to Shawbost...
North Shawbost is one of the largest townships in the Lews, a portion of it
occupied by people removed from Uig who I hope will do better here than in
their former holdings... There are several in North Shawbost who I fear cannot
pay rent...
Ruthless as some of the above statements may sound, Mackenzie was far outdone in this respect by his successor as Chamberlain (Factor) of the Matheson estate, whose reign of terror and eventual overthrow are described in: None Dare Oppose: The Laird, the Beast and
the People of Lewis, by John MacLeod (Birlinn, 2011). The eviction to which Calum refers would have occurred in the latter's time as Factor, c.1859.
On medical services
on the island before the NHS, see Stornoway Historical Society article:
Early Medical Men of Lewis
 |
| A beach at Uig, Isle of Lewis (Photo: I.R.M.) |
Early Medical Men of Lewis
No comments:
Post a Comment