Miriam Margolyes Matron, Medicine and Me: 70 Years of the NHS

70 years ago, plans for a revolution were made

that changed all our lives in Britain.

We're out to improve the health of every family and the whole nation.

Its name? The National Health Service.

We're taking a look at the NHS then and now...

-OK, adrenaline.

-He's had six adrenaline.

-Six adrenaline.

..to see how much it's changed...

-Is that real?

-..to meet staff and patients...

-Let me help you out.

-Sorry, it's my first day here.

-..with extraordinary medical stories.

-You died, basically?

-For three minutes, yes.

-Oh.

It's quite emotional seeing you. Thank you.

Hello. I'm Miriam Margolyes

and today I'm going back to the country where my father was born -

Scotland.

I will be travelling across this beautiful land to meet

patients who rely on GPs in the most remote locations.

-Oh! You're looking a lot better. Colour's back in your cheeks.

-Yes.

-That comes from that.

-Yup.

And I'll be going into the heart of the city

to try to understand my father a little more.

-Just look over here. Joseph.

-Yes.

-Aytoun Road.

'So what are we waiting for? Let's have the titles, shall we?'

Welcome to Glasgow.

It's a long way from where I was born in Oxford

but I've worked here many times.

They say if you can survive a Glaswegian audience

you can survive anywhere, darling.

Well, I wouldn't be surprised

if you were wondering why this English actress with her posh,

plummy Oxford accent is doing a programme about the NHS in Scotland.

I'll tell you why - because it's in my DNA.

It's where my father was born and bred

but also where he trained and became a doctor before the war.

Eventually he moved south of the border where he married,

had a family and started his own GP practice.

And that's where I come into the story. Here I am.

Aren't I a little cutie? Even if I do say so myself.

And that's Daddy and me.

I know Daddy loved working as a family doctor

but growing up I never took much notice of what he actually did.

So in this programme I want to go some way to putting that straight.

'But first, I'm dropping in on my cousin Gloria to see

'if I can find out a bit more about the Scottish side of the family.'

-Hello.

-Hello, it's me.

-Come in, come in, come in.

-How are you?

Thanks for seeing us. Come on.

-This is a photograph of him as a wee boy...

-Ha-ha!

-..with the hat.

-Is that the Hatchi blazer?

-Yes, it is.

And that's my grandmother, Uncle Jack, Auntie Doris and Eva.

-You did know Eva, didn't you?

-Yes. Oh, yes. Yes.

-She was a live wire.

She used to say to me,

-IN SCOTTISH ACCENT: "Do I have an accent?"

-Yes!

THEY LAUGH

I'd say, "You do, Auntie Eva." She would say, "Och! I do not!"

-She was quite offended.

-She was. That's absolutely...

-It just brings her back to life.

-THEY LAUGH

Daddy and his family must have had their Sunday best on

for this photo because they really weren't well-off at all.

In fact, when this photo was taken he would have been living

in the Gorbals area of the city, which was known for its poverty.

My father himself suffered from rickets as a child,

caused by a poor diet and a lack of sunlight.

Perhaps more importantly though, he was also growing up at a time

when some of the best minds in the country were starting to

discover a link between social deprivation and health.

There is a marked difference in the heights of boys drawn from different classes of society.

At 13 years of age, the boys at Christ's Hospital School

are on an average nearly 2.5 inches taller than those from council schools.

A lot of the pioneering work was being done up here,

led by prominent Scottish nutritionist John Boyd Orr.

At the present time at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen,

a group of rats are being brought up on a typical poor working class diet.

Here is a typical rat from each group.

The smaller rat received the working class diet.

You can see how much healthier and more lively the bigger one is.

I've always wondered whether research like this

might have influenced in some subconscious way my father's decision to go into medicine.

'Which brings me to my next question to cousin Gloria -

'does medicine run in our family?

'It seems it does, past and present.'

-So Aunt Eva was a doctor's wife, right?

-Yes.

And his practice actually was in Springburn which,

when he was there, was a very...a very hard area.

-When I say hard I really mean hard men...

-Tough? Tough?

-Very. Very.

-But they adored him.

-Do we have doctors in the family now?

-Yes.

You've got... You've got my gorgeous Monica's a doctor.

-She's your granddaughter.

-Ya-ha. Yes.

-Therefore my cousin. Yeah.

-And is she a GP?

-She's a G...

Well, she's just finishing off her GP training, yes.

-That's what she's going to be.

-So she's carrying on the tradition.

Oh, yes. At the moment she's still going to save the world.

She's very idealistic. She's young and I'm glad she's like that.

Well that's, I think, what my father felt.

Cos he worked in the East End in London in a very poor area

and he wanted to give medicine to people who couldn't afford it.

He remembered his youth and he felt that it was a good youth.

That although it was poor, that people were decent and kind to one another.

And I feel that somehow by doing this I'm getting closer to him

and learning about who he was and why he felt the passion that he did.

-That's lovely.

-Yeah.

-That's lovely.

All right. Enough cousinly chitchat. Time for me to get going.

Can I have some Scottish getting going music, please?

# I would walk 500 miles And I would walk 500 more... #

Perfect.

'First I'm travelling to see how health care is delivered'

outside the city in the Scottish countryside.

I love coming up here.

'Getting out into the wilds feels like a real adventure

'and I've certainly had a few of those.'

My father never worked as a country doctor in a rural practice.

He was always in the city.

So I'm rather interested to see what being out in the country

practising medicine is like.

And to be honest in my mind's eye

I think it's going to be a bit like Dr Finlay's Casebook...

..and we'll see if I'm right.

I wonder what the life of the modern rural GP is like up here

so I'm heading to Lochgilphead which is part of the Argyll and Bute

Health and Social Care Partnership.

'The partnership look after nearly 90,000 people

'spread over 7,000 square kilometres.'

I've come to a state-of-the-art GP-run clinic in Lochgilphead

which looks after around 10,000 patients.

I've even got a date for the day.

-Hello.

-Good morning. Good morning.

-I'm Miriam. Nice to meet you.

-Hector.

-I'll follow your lead.

-Let me carry that.

-Thank you.

-Right.

'Hector lives in nearby Inveraray and every other Thursday

'he makes the 40 minute trip to the clinic for a blood transfusion.'

-So you've been coming here every week, is it?

-Fortnightly.

-Every fortnight.

-For three units of blood. Yeah.

-So that's what keeps me alive.

-That's amazing.

-Because I'm transfusion dependent.

-Transfusion dependent.

-Yes.

So if I didn't get my transfusions I wouldn't be here.

-So this is it.

-This is the room.

-Good morning all.

-MANY: Good morning.

'It seems Hector has organised a welcome reception.

'They've just finished their morning meeting.

'As well as transfusions the nurses here also carry out

'chemotherapy, under close contact with oncologists in Glasgow.

'It's all very different to the conditions my father worked under.'

-This is Colette. She's...

-Hello, nice to meet you.

-..senior lady of the Macmillan nurses.

-Senior.

THEY LAUGH

He doesn't come for the blood, he comes for the girls. That's clear.

-That's what my wife says.

-'You can tell he's a handful.

'Anyway, coat off, Hector settles down.'

He may need new blood but there's still a bit of Braveheart in this old warrior.

I won't need that. I won't need that, unless I've got to hit anyone.

-Heaven forbid.

-THEY LAUGH

Why are you putting your hands in a bucket?

My veins have got, you know, with getting all the transfusions

I've had, your veins sort of, you know...

-Take fright.

-Well, yeah.

And the girls have got to look for one.

This takes them up to the surface a bit more.

The same reason we have the room nice and warm, it makes your veins

stand out a wee bit better and easier to put the wee needle and the cannula in.

Even being here for a short while,

it's clear this place is a world away from how health care

used to be delivered in the Scottish countryside.

# In the land of Bonny Scotland Lives a doctor of great fame

# In a place called Tannochbrae And Dr Finlay is his name... #

Back then it was all very much one man and his bag, on foot,

unless he had a car.

This is a promotional film of a Scottish rural doctor

on his rounds before the NHS was ever set-up.

Good afternoon, nurse. I've brought Dr Wright with me.

-How do you do?

-Good afternoon, doctor.

And how's the patient?

She's had a restless night but she's a bit easier today.

She's been fretting herself about Dr Wright here coming

all that way from Inverness.

The acting isn't up to much but you get the idea.

All very well meaning but hardly efficient.

-We should be back with the stretcher in about two and half hours.

-About 5:30.

Back in the present day, the GPs wear a lot less tweed

and leading the way is Dr Adrian Ward.

He campaigned to improve the facilities ten years ago

and is rightly proud of what they've achieved.

Well, Adrian, I'm knocked out by this place. It's extraordinary.

-Five-star. Five-star NHS.

-We're very lucky. We are very lucky here.

What are you actually offering here?

Everything from the GP surgery to dentistry to physio,

a social work department, there's a 24-hour blue-light-receiving

A&E Department and we have 15 GP acute beds.

-These photographs are of the old hospital before.

-Yeah. That's right.

It was a small timber building and it was falling to bits

so really we either replaced it or it wasn't going to be sustainable.

But the population has gotten bigger, things have just changed.

You cannot provide modern care in a facility like that any more.

We're miles away from any big city in Lochgilphead and miles away from

big city hospitals full of highly skilled and specialised consultants.

But Adrian and his fellow GPs have found a way of working

with city-based doctors to create a local health centre

far beyond a normal GP surgery.

I don't know if you've noticed but I've been doing a lot of walking

around so it's time for a wee sit down with a couple of patients.

-Now, what's your name?

-Fariborz.

-Fariborz.

-Yes.

-And where are you from?

-I'm Iranian.

-You're a long way from home.

-Yes.

-So what's the story? What happened?

I had a heart attack on 31st of December

when I was doing gardening around the house and then I felt a pain.

I phoned my partner and she came home and brought me here to A&E.

-As soon as I arrived in A&E I had a cardiac arrest.

-You died?

-Yes.

For three minutes, yes.

-Oh. But you've come back.

-Yeah.

-Because of what they did?

Definitely. They done all the emergency here

and then they sent me to the Golden Jubilee by helicopter.

You must love this place.

I mean, there are no words I can express

to say thanks for what they've done for me.

You know. Basically, they saved my life.

'Val Willis, meanwhile, has been using the facility to receive treatment for throat cancer.'

So, Val, I believe you're a member of the Thursday Club. Is that right?

-Yes.

-I was hearing about it from Hector.

And what do you think of it here? It's pretty special, isn't it?

-Absolutely marvellous.

-And you're a regular here?

-I'm an old hand, yes.

-They all know you here.

-Yes.

-It seems very friendly here.

-It is.

And because it's all under one roof, everybody knows everybody else.

Seeing the difference between the world as it was before the NHS

and how things are now is a real reminder of how far we've come.

And yet I can't help but feel that the generation

of doctors like my father were in part responsible for that change.

'You see, he was one of those GPs who

'took the best of the old way and applied it to the modern world.

'And in that sense a place like this fulfils all

'he worked for as a doctor.

'It's time to go.

'There's someone I need to say goodbye to first though.

'He's just finished his lunch and will be heading home in an hour or so with a spring in his step.'

-I've come to say cheerio, Hector.

-Yes.

-Can I sit down?

-Yes, certainly.

-Yes.

-Oh. You're looking a lot better.

-The colour's back in your cheek.

-Yes.

-That comes from that.

-Yep.

Nice rosy cheeks. I've had one unit and I'm on my second now.

-It's not just the blood, is it? You like the girls.

-Well...

THEY GIGGLE

They're very good to me I must say, and I'm very well looked after.

-It was lovely to meet you.

-You too, Miriam, I've enjoyed it very much.

And I've enjoyed talking to you, learning about this gorgeous place

-and seeing you go out of here, you know...

-Yes, all primed up.

-..strong as anything. Bless you.

-Thank you very much.

-All the best.

-Thank you.

-Thanks. Bye-bye.

-Same to you. Bye-bye.

Well, I thought I was coming into an episode of Dr Finlay's Casebook.

I was very wrong.

This is top-of-the-range, state-of-the-art,

national health GP-driven local medical centre.

It's truly beautiful out here but it really is off the beaten track.

And even with a clinic like the one in Lochgilphead nearby,

if you got seriously sick or injured you'd have real difficulty

getting to somewhere you could be treated.

And yet it was ever thus

and something the Scottish NHS has had to cope with always.

Renfrew Aerodrome, besides being Glasgow's busy airport,

is the operational headquarters of an air ambulance service to the Western Isles.

Air ambulances flying paramedics to remote areas has always been

part of emergency health care in rural Scotland throughout the NHS's history.

And in storms like those which have been beating around their coasts,

this is the only means of bringing sick or injured people to the mainland hospitals.

But the people I'm meeting today have taken it to a whole new level.

This is the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service, set up in 2004.

Dr Stephen Hearns is one of its founders.

We can actually fly to Orkney on this without refuelling.

-OK, Miriam, here's your helmet.

-Blimey. Thank you very much.

I'm going to have to wear my sunglasses - it's a bit bright - to talk to you.

So, I know what paramedics are and emergency services,

but the helicopter? That's new to me. How does that work?

There are 24 small hospitals in Scotland which don't have

on-site intensive care units or fully staffed emergency departments

so as well as two paramedics on the air ambulance

we will deploy with a specialist retrieval consultant

and a specially trained nurse or paramedic

and we can really bring the hospital to the patient.

In addition to that, we will deploy to patients with serious

life-threatening injuries from car crashes or high falls

actually at the site of the injury

and we can provide advanced interventions

which are life-saving, such as emergency anaesthesia,

some surgical procedures, we can even give blood transfusions to those patients.

So you started this. Is that right?

Yes, I had finished training with the London trauma helicopter

and I found out lots about how a pre-hospital service works

but in order to prove that it was effective in saving people's lives

and that it was feasible and cost effective,

we had to start the service voluntarily.

So we operated the service for three years initially on an unpaid

voluntary basis and we got Government funding to establish

a bigger service which is now fully funded by the Scottish Government.

'All right, I hear what you're saying. "Enough chitchat, Miriam."

'This is the part of the programme where the

'celebrity, in this case, me, gets in the chopper

'and goes for an all action test drive across the Scottish landscape.'

RADIO: And look at this. Isn't it wonderful?

You get the feeling of just being so free up here.

RECORD SCRATCH 'Sorry, no.

'I can't lie to you. The helicopter hasn't even taken off.'

I'm terrified of helicopters so I'm just happy to watch it,

look at it, touch it but there's no way that I'm getting in that.

I'm off.

Found this motorcyclist in the road. Got the guy to give me a hand.

Dr Stephen can show me the type of work they do safely on the ground.

In the training room they're simulating a motorcycle crash.

The airway is a bit noisy.

Simulation is something that we do every day here

with the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service.

It says heart rate 100, blood pressure...

This role-play is taken very seriously

-and it's incredible to watch.

-100% on that oxygen.

-OK.

If you're doing this properly then people will get

immersed into the situation and truly believe that they

are actually in that environment, looking after that patient.

'This would no doubt seem like something

'from a science-fiction movie if my father saw it.

'He always thought his best friend was his trusty doctor's bag.'

I am the doctor's little black bag.

Describe to him as best you can what is wrong.

I shall know then what to carry.

'And yet what Stephen has to show me next

'suggests we might not have abandoned that sentiment entirely.

'Right. Time for a bit of show and tell, I think.'

In two rucksacks like this we have essentially got an intensive care unit.

You can see each of the pockets here are actually sealed up

so two people with a two-person check-and-respond system

have checked that bag and as soon as I see that that bag is sealed up,

I know that everything is there and it's all complete.

So you just grab the bag. That's what my father used to do.

He was a GP. And when the call came in at night he just knew

that everything was in the bag and he would grab it, but it didn't look like that.

Quite similar. Similar idea.

We've got a lot of other equipment which is quite portable

that we can take out to the patients.

To people who watch us working at the roadside or in a small hospital

it would appear that all the work takes place at that time, looking after the patient.

Actually really that's only about 10% of the work that goes into a retrieval.

90% of the time is in here in the cold light of day,

making sure we've got the right equipment,

making sure that we're simulating and practising so that

when we come into that demanding, time critical situation,

everything is at our fingertips and we know exactly what we're doing as a team.

Very good. Time for me to continue with my own journey.

So I'm headed back to the city.

'And it's time for a confession.

'You see, part of the reason I've agreed to take part in this

'documentary is because my relationship with my father wasn't all it should have been.'

He was a small man.

Cautious, handsome, very principled.

He always said, "You must never do anything wrong. Never."

He did have a sense of humour but it involved teasing.

He liked teasing me and I didn't like to be teased.

I wasn't as close to him as I was growing up, as I was to my mother, who was very like me.

But I loved him and deeply respected him.

He came from a conventional Jewish family

and of course he wanted a daughter who would get married

and have babies and be a good Jewish housewife and cook

and sew and all those kind of things.

So I think I deeply disappointed him.

And when he learned that I was never going to get married, that I was homosexual...

..I think that that was a bad moment for him.

It crushed him. And I regret it, of course, but...

You know, life is what it is.

This is a photograph which I'm actually quite fond of

because it shows us enjoying a joke together. And we didn't...

We didn't always enjoy jokes together

so I'm partly on this journey of mine to go through Scotland

and learn about the National Health Service here...

..as a tribute to him because I think he'd have liked me to do this.

It would have pleased him to think that I was interested enough

and it would have brought us closer together.

If he was still alive - and I wish he were - he would love this.

Goodness me! That was emotional.

It's all getting rather "Who Do You Think You Are?" around here.

But as Daddy would have said, "Pull yourself together, dear.

"You cannae mope around forever." So that's what I'm going to do.

Although my father was a GP in England, I suspect his values

and indeed his commitment to the NHS spring from his upbringing

in Scotland and a big part of that was his Jewishness.

'I'm off to the magnificent Mitchell Library to find out more from Dr Kenneth Collins.'

-So your father was born...

-Daddy was born in 1899.

-Right.

And your family were here a little bit before that?

I think they were here in the 1870s.

After 1890, 1891, there was a further wave of anti-Semitism

in eastern Europe so by the time your father is born in 1899,

these are kind of the peak years for migration.

Some of it through Glasgow.

Many people were heading off for the States

and Glasgow was a popular shipping port.

So at that time what sort of health care was available?

The Jewish Board of Guardians provided a kind of safety net

for people in a rather patronising, you know,

paternalistic kind of a way.

And one of the great things which the community did was to set up numerous self-help groups.

Used to call it penny societies.

They put by a penny a week and if they needed help,

there were friendly societies and that...and that helped as well.

One of the other sources of medication,

particularly provision for the Jews who lived in the Gorbals,

was from Christian missionary groups. Mostly evangelical groups.

And they thought that if they provided free medication for

the Jewish patients who had received a prescription from the doctor,

they could take it to the missionary clinic

and all that they had to do in return, instead of having to pay for

the medication, was to sit through a session in the Gospel Hall.

So you didn't have to change your religion?

No, you just had to listen to a couple of hymns

in the Mission Hall and you got your free medication.

It's fascinating to think that my father's early experiences

of a community providing free health care for the people

might have fed into his eventual love of the health service.

And yet when he first became a doctor,

it was a full 20 years before the NHS even came into being.

'On that very subject, Dr Collins has something of a surprise for me.'

Well, Miriam, we've found your father's entry in the medical register.

This in 1928 and it shows, if you

can just look over here, "Joseph".

-Yes.

-"Aytoun Road."

-Ha-ha!

That was the family house where my aunt and uncle lived.

Actually, also a doctor. Dr Harold Kissen.

It was called Pearl House because, erm,

margolioth means pearl in Hebrew.

-Yes.

-So they put that on the door.

He has graduated and registered on August 12th, 1926.

And you'll see that in addition to his university degree from Glasgow,

he's also been to Edinburgh to take what they call the triple qualification.

-It gives you 13 extra letters after your name.

-Hah!

Triple qualification would have been taken just before the medical

finals so it was good practice and of course if you didn't pass the

medical finals you'd got the other one and you can still start work.

-Belt and braces.

-Very sensible and very practical, your father must have been.

-He was. He was.

-Yes, he was like that. He was a cautious man.

-Right.

-Where did you get your...?

-My madness from? I don't know!

-My mother.

Definitely the other side of the family.

My father may have graduated in 1926 but it's when the NHS came in

that I suspect the true fulfilment of his vocation came about.

I think the values of the NHS fitted his own, especially the government's

stated commitment to treat everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

The first thing to know is that the whole service,

the doctor in his surgery or the bed in the hospital will be free.

There will be no more doctors' bills.

The abolition of doctors' bills must have been exciting

for patients who previously wouldn't have been able to afford health care.

The National Health Service will include family doctors,

whom you can choose for yourselves,

and who will attend you in your own homes when this is necessary.

It will cover any medicines you may need, specialist advice

and of course hospital treatment, whatever the illness,

special care for mothers and children

and a lot of other things besides.

In fact, every kind of advice and treatment you may need.

If we cut out the money worries which illness brings

then there'll be no reason to put off getting advice and treatment.

We can build up good health instead of just trying to mend bad health.

On the day the NHS launched, an astonishing 94%

of the public had already enrolled, signing up for access to GPs.

I want to hear what it was like from the patients' perspective

so I've come to meet Neta, Sadie, Rosaline and Stuart.

'They're a unique group who have all experienced life pre-NHS.'

When the National Health Service was founded,

-do you think that it probably was a big relief for people?

-Yes. Yes.

Yes, well, my mother had to pay £3 to the doctor.

-£3?

-Yes. To get my tonsils out. That was in 1944.

-Was that a lot of money, Stuart?

-Quite a lot, yes.

I remember my mum taking me to the doctors.

It was Dr Lymore and it was in Maryhill.

And I think she paid about five shillings or something for the visit.

I remember because I was just young then, you know,

I can remember that.

My father didn't work so we had what you call a parish doctor.

-A parish doctor?

-Yes.

-Never heard of that. What is that?

It was a doctor who attended folk freely who were on social benefits.

-How many were in your family?

-Eight.

-Eight?

-Eight children.

-Oh, my!

-One of eight.

IN SCOTTISH ACCENT: You're a Bobby dazzler, dear! That's for sure!

The NHS promised to end restricted access to private or parish doctors.

Instead, all doctors would receive payment from the state.

Family doctors like my father now regarded themselves as public servants.

For patients it must have seemed like a whole new world.

'Needless to say, with such a big change, people needed to be informed.

'And I've brought along the advert that was run in Scotland at the time.'

I'm just going to start it off and you'll see what it's all about.

You two have a look at that.

This leaflet is coming through your letterbox one day soon

or maybe you have already had your copy. Read it carefully.

It tells you what the new National Health Service is

and how you can use what it offers.

Remember all the leaflet says.

Study the leaflet, then keep it by you. You will need it for reference.

I was only just left school at the time

but it was my sister was having a baby and she told me...

I was up in the house when the baby was born and she was born

on 31st May 1948 and I remember the doctor was in the house.

The baby was getting born in the house and my sister said to me after,

if the baby had been born a day after she wouldn't have had to pay.

-But because she was born...

-On the 31st, she had to pay for the birth.

-A little bit too early.

With the introduction of the NHS, Britain's health revolution was in full swing.

And it wasn't just access to family GPs the new service offered.

Dentists as well were swamped with patients demanding free dentures.

While for a generation, NHS specs were the fashion item of the day.

But it was in the provision of medicine by chemists

where the real revolution took place.

At the start of the NHS, all prescriptions were free,

meaning more lives saved.

Though over the years charges have been gradually introduced.

The old "bob on the bottle" prescription charge has risen to

a shilling per item. But the doctor gets no more.

Costs are rising for all of us.

For the healthy, for the sick, for the chemist, for the doctor.

'But luckily, never for pensioners.

'And when you get a group of oldies like us together,

'prescriptions and pills are a hot topic.'

I don't know what I would have done if I had to pay for my prescriptions cos I get so many.

-How many pills do you think you are on?

-I take 30-odd a day.

-I reckon those pills have kept you alive.

-Oh, they have.

Thank goodness. It's nice that you're here.

-How many pills do you take?

-Four. Four a day, that's all I'm on.

-And that's on prescription?

-Uh-huh. Yeah.

-Sadie, many do you take?

-I'm on six a day.

-I've got colitis.

Ulcerative colitis. I had a bad bout of it.

I take four of the yellow ones

and then another about 16 of the white ones.

-Every day?

-Every day, yes.

-I take two.

One for high blood pressure and one for osteoporosis.

'For heavens sake! This makes us sound like a bunch of pill poppers!

'But to be fair, they've kept us all alive.

'It's 95-year-old Sadie's story, however, that I find the most inspirational

'in pointing out the difference between then and now.'

I was in recently and had a lip replacement.

And in those days I would never have been able to have done that.

That's an amazing operation. What happened?

-I mean, did you have a cancer?

-Cancer.

-And they spotted it...

I had cancer of the lip and I got the vein taken from my arm and a new lip made.

-That would never have been possible before, would it?

-No.

That cancer would have been left to travel all through my body.

-Do you think we take the NHS for granted sometimes?

-Yes, we do.

-Are you glad it's there?

-Yes. Well, I had five children so it was good.

It's so important that people know that there was a time

before the NHS came in and it makes them appreciate it more.

And your memories and your recollections are so interesting.

You know them all but to us they're new and so valuable.

Thank you very, very much.

Of course, it would be wrong to say that the revolution that

took place in primary care services 70 years ago has been problem-free.

Far from it.

We've all had experiences of that automated telephone system,

stressed locums and those out of date, tatty magazines in the waiting rooms.

I don't think anyone has ever enjoyed going to a GP surgery.

But throughout the decades they've become involuntary meeting points,

our first port of call when we're ill.

'If we can get an appointment, that is.

'So finally I want to end my journey by visiting a modern surgery.'

Dr Jim O'Neill has worked as a GP around here for 30 years

and I'm meeting him between patients.

-Good morning.

-Good morning. How can I help?

-Can I see Dr O'Neill, please.

-Of course you can. What's your name?

-Miriam. Miriam Margolyes.

You can only just see me above this thing!

-It's quite a high counter.

-Thanks very much.

-No problem.

-Thank you.

-Hello.

-Hello, doctor. Thank you very much for seeing us today.

So, I want to ask you about the NHS here

and I wanted to know what special problems you face here.

This is north-east Glasgow.

This practice and many of the practices around here are all

in the most deprived practices in Britain.

And we call ourselves The Deep End.

And there is a special group of doctors called The Deep End.

We are swimming in the deep end, trying to keep our heads float.

I suppose the hospitals are the glamour end of the business

-and you're the sharp end.

-We are the gatekeeper.

We decide who gets there.

People have to go through us to get there and we're quite good at that.

Does poverty play a part in the kind of illnesses that they have?

Very much. Things have definitely improved.

Housing is better, people have got more jobs

and people are more wealthy than they were 30 years ago

but we still have the impact on their health of deprivation.

A lot of it is to do with mental health problems, you know,

anxiety, depression, stress about family.

But also in addition to that, a lot of people have long-term medical

conditions like diabetes and chronic lung disease, chronic heart disease.

Just down the road from us here there's a 20 year gap

between the life expectancy of a man

living down the road compared to where I live.

Which is just up the road. And that's not good.

So it's fair to say the NHS hasn't solved all our problems.

In fact, Glasgow's low life expectancy compared to

the rest of the UK even has a name.

The Glasgow Effect.

It was around when my father was a lad and unfortunately it's still with us.

Which makes free health care all the more important to patients in these parts.

So to end my day I'm meeting a few of them.

'Dr Margolyes will see you now.'

-What's your name?

-Joe.

-Joe.

Nice to meet you. You've just been in to see Dr O'Neill.

-What's he like?

-Absolutely charming and very professional.

-How long have you been a patient here?

-Oh, 30 years or so.

-So the health service has looked after you, hasn't it?

-Unbelievable.

I can't speak highly enough of the health service.

My wife was diagnosed four years ago with breast cancer and within

two hours, she was diagnosed, she had been given her standby,

her named nurse, she had been told that she would need

to have a small operation.

Everything - blood tests, the whole lot was all done within two hours.

-Imagine if you had to pay for that.

-I couldn't. She'd be dead.

I couldn't afford it.

I've worked all my days from when I was 14 years of age

and I could never have paid.

You're making me cry.

'Next, a patient I can really relate to.'

Why are you here this morning? What did you come for?

I came in to get my bloods checked. Blood and urine.

-Cos I'm stage two diabetic.

-Right. So that has to be watched.

Yes, every three months I come in for a check up.

Did they tell you to lose weight? That's what they always say to me.

-Yes.

-"You must lose weight!"

Yes, they have. I have tried to lose weight.

-It's a losing battle.

-It's so hard, isn't it?

-Really hard.

I have the same problem, you know. And are there clinics you can go to?

There is clinics there that I've been offered

but just given the shifts that I work and I've still got kids at home,

it's quite hard to fit it in.

-So you're working at night then?

-I work constant night shift.

-Good luck with the weight. We've got to do it together.

-I know.

Think of me. I'm 74 and I'm still fat.

You don't want to be my age and fat.

-Jim.

-Jim. Can I call you Jim?

-Yes. Certainly.

Tell me, why are you visiting the health centre this morning?

To get prescriptions for my wife and myself.

-Your wife is poorly too, is she?

-Yes.

My wife is confined to a wheelchair.

Oh, I see.

Could you manage without the health service if you had to go privately?

-No.

-Do you remember what it was like before the health service?

-Well, I've got a story to tell.

-Yes?

-I'm a twin.

I was born before the health service started in 1948.

They paid half a crown. So my mother only had one half crown

and my twin sister was born and the doctor said,

"Agnes, there's another one here."

"Oh," she says, "Don't say that! I don't have another half a crown!"

So I was born on tick.

Ha! You were born on tick?

THEY LAUGH I've never heard that before.

Well, that was a surprising and uplifting visit.

I didn't quite know what to expect.

But what I found was genuine appreciation

and gratitude for what the health service is providing

and in the person of Dr O'Neill a remarkable, dedicated man.

And I'm very moved by it.

'My aim in this programme was to try to understand my father's

'real passion for the NHS. And I think I've achieved that.

'I've learned what motivated him and I've experienced

'the gratitude of patients whose lives have been saved.

'Before I leave there's just one last call to make

'to my cousin Gloria.'

-Did you have a good trip?

-I did. It was a wonderful trip, actually.

I learned a great deal

so I feel that the ideals of the National Health Service,

which is to treat the patient's needs,

regardless of who the patient is,

it's still alive in Scotland and that's what motivated my father.

So I feel that I've come in a full circle back to him.

That's lovely, that really is.

I'm so glad that you've been getting this lovely, good experience

because you pick up the papers and you read all these awful

things that happen and this is not right and that's not right.

You're right. You do hear bad stuff about the NHS but, you know,

when you go out and see people working in it

and see how they care and how grateful the patients are,

it reinforces, well, my personal joy that it exists

and my belief that it has got to go on.

And it's working in Scotland and that's fabulous.

-You can't deny that.

-I'm certainly not denying that.

# But I would walk five hundred miles

# And I would walk five hundred more

# Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles

# To fall down at your door

# When I'm working Yes, I know I'm gonna be

# I'm gonna be the man who's working hard for you

# And when the money comes in for the work I do... #