Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health, on the first day of the National Health Service, 5 July 1948 at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, near Manchester.
Annis Gillie, Born 1900
PIONEER OF GENERAL PRACTICE
Through her chairmanship of the committee which produced the 1963 Gillie Report, The Field of Work of the Family Doctor, Dame (Katharine) Annis Gillie helped save general practice. The profession was in decline; with GPs under the enormous strain of long working hours and poor working conditions, there was considerable medical emigration and recruitment was floundering. Dame Annis saw GPs as essential, and their future as one where they co-ordinated hospital and community care. The Ministry of Health’s response to the report resulted in a Family Doctor Charter and a new GP contract. This improved pay and conditions, introduced a maximum list size of 2,000 patients and provided funds for professional education, improvement of premises and hiring support staff. Her work on the future of general practice followed a career in general practice which spanned the years of the Second World War.