Health

In his book 'In Sickness & in Health', Clive Harrison writes that in Leicester, before the start of the National health Service (NHS) in 1948, if you were very ill or needed an operation you went to the Leicester Royal Infirmary, the City General Hospital or Groby Road Hospital. If you were too old or poor to look after yourself you would go to Hillcrest (the workhouse). Countesthorpe Cottage Homes were open for orphans, while expectant mothers went to Bond Street, Westcotes Maternity Home or the City General to have their babies. Before 1948 the doctor, the chemist, the hospital and the midwife all had to be paid, and doctors usually came to the patient. To help with payments, people could subscribe to Friendly Societies (e.g. the Ancient Order of Foresters, the Oddfellows), the Leicester Saturday Hospital Fund, or the Leicester Public Medical Service. At welfare and school clinics, such as Richmond House, nurses would weigh children, dispense dried milk, remove tonsils, cut out verrucas, pull teeth, look for nits or distribute spectacles. What happened after the NHS started is looked at on the Post War Leicester website.

This extract from our Public Health compilation explains the options people had before the NHS:

Not everyone looked forward to the start of the NHS. Leicester's local health authority had been working effectively to improve the health of Leicester since the start of the 20th century. The City's Health Committe bought the North Evington Poor Law Infirmary and renamed it the City General Hosptial in 1930. Dr Millard was the Medical Officer of Health from 1901-1935 and he advocated clearing slum housing to improve living conditions (tuberculosis and poor housing conditions were known to be linked). Increasingly, school children's health became a priority, while clinics for those on the new suburban housing estates were planned. By the end of Dr Millard's time in office Leicester had established a reputation as a forward-thinking local authority.(1)

In the schools, the most common health issues were problems with sight and hearing, skin conditions, and tooth decay (which was taken for granted by most people). Clinics were developed to deal with all of these.

At the end of WW2, local health departments were used to having control at a local level and providing many local services; the Leicester Royal Infirmary, along with other organisations, was supported by donations and subscriptions, and had a long tradition of fund raising. Many health care professionals eyed the proposed NHS suspiciously, as recalled by Ms Wagstaff, a nursing sister at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, in this clip:

There were many places that dealt with health care, one of the less obvious ones being factories. Many of the larger factories had their own health centres (as well as fire brigades) and dealt with injuries at work. Erti Wilford worked in the health centre at the Wolsey factory (clothing) in Leicester and gives an example of the sort of accident she dealt:

In the 1920s health campaigns were started that continued through to WW2 and beyond. Educational handbooks, posters, taks, exhibitions and films were created to encourage healthy habits.

Sound clips for this page were created by Amirah Rashid and Dominic Buckley.

References

(1) ‘Leicester a Modern History’ edited by Richard Roger & Rebecca Madgin, Carnegie Publishing Ltd., 2016. Chapter 10, p. 253.