Hull Medical Society

Take part in our NHS Got Talent competition

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 14:19:43 GMT

! CALLING ALL NHS WORKERS !

Join us for a special event to celebrate the talent of those who work locally in our National Health Service.

We would like to invite anyone who works in the NHS (or is retired from working in the NHS) to sign up to participate in our NHS Got Talent competition . You do NOT need to be a seasoned performer to enter. Why not perform for the first time with us?

By taking part in this event, you will be helping us to raise money for two local charities - Park Street Performing Arts Centre and Hull Medical Society.

All contestants will receive a special thank you gift.

The winners will receive a cash prize and the coveted NHS Got Talent trophy!

Very minimal and flexible rehearsal commitment.

SHOW DATE: SATURDAY 18th MAY 2024 (7pm)

If you have any questions about this event, please contact info@hullmedicalsociety.co.uk

……

FAQ

Where is the event being held?

Park Street Theatre. It is round the corner from Hull Royal Infirmary.

When is the event being held?

7pm, Saturday 18th of May 2024. We will ask all contestants to be there in the afternoon or early evening for a sound check / practice run of their performance.

Who are Park Street Theatre?

An amazing local charity who do so much for children and adults in the area (esp. those with additional educational needs) who want to learn performance and / or technical skills. It's also where Sheridan Smith started out!

What is the level of commitment here?

This event is very relaxed. We will all meet once (or more, if desired) at Park Street Theatre to show you the venue. You will rehearse your act at home in your own time. We have a wonderful tech team who will aim to meet all of you audio visual needs for the performance. You will do a sound check / practice run on the day of the performance - and then get ready with the other contestants.

We will make you feel comfortable and welcome. I would like to emphasise... you do NOT need to be a seasoned performer. Why not perform for the first time with us?

If you have any access requirements to enable you to perform in our show, please let us know!

Please note:

Please note: all types of acts and talents are welcome to apply, but we cannot support anything for which we will need more expert assistance or anything that might pose a risk to health and safety.

Announcing our STUDENT Art and Poetry Competition for April 2024!

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 12:53:11 GMT

Calling all Hull York Medical School (HYMS) and healthcare students …

You are eligible for this competition if you are a HYMS or healthcare student (i.e. Medicine, ODP, nursing, paramedic, PA, allied health professions … etc.) in Hull and the surrounding regions.

We’d love to read your original poetry.

We’d love to see your original artwork.

All students are invited to submit either a poem or a piece of artwork or both .

The poem and / or art should reflect EITHER:

The role and purpose of the NHS,
Your experience of working or training in the NHS, OR
The experience of illness or health

Please use the following link to submit your work to the poetry category:

POETRY SUBMISSION POINT

Please use the following link to submit your work to the art category:

ART SUBMISSION POINT

DEADLINE: 25 ^th of April 2024

First prize (poetry category): £150

First prize (art category): £150

The winners will be announced at the HEAT conference on Friday 3 ^rd May 2024.

Winners: Your work will be read and / or displayed at HEAT.

Please send art as a high-resolution image file.

Following the competition, all entrants will have the option to attend an event to celebrate their brilliant work. They will also have the option to be entered into a book compiling all creative submissions.

Announcing our NHS Art and Poetry Competition for April 2024!

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 12:48:49 GMT

Calling everyone who works in the National Health Service …

You are eligible for this competition if you work in the NHS in Hull and the surrounding regions.

We’d love to read your original poetry.

We’d love to see your original artwork.

All NHS staff are invited to submit either a poem or a piece of artwork or both .

The poem and / or art should reflect EITHER:

The role and purpose of the NHS,
Your experience of working or training in the NHS, OR
The experience of illness or health

Please use the following link to submit your work to the poetry category:

POETRY SUBMISSION POINT

Please use the following link to submit your work to the art category:

ART SUBMISSION POINT

DEADLINE: 25 ^th of April 2024

First prize (poetry category): £150

First prize (art category): £150

The winners will be announced at the HEAT conference on Friday 3 ^rd May 2024.

Winners: Your work will be read and / or displayed at HEAT.

Please send art as a high-resolution image file.

Events from our partners - HYMS Inaugural lecture Professor Maria Bryant

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 16:10:27 GMT

"From scissors to systems: finding the tools for transformational change"
Inaugural lecture, Professor Maria Bryant, Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Hull York Medical School

20 March 2024

Church Lane Lecture Theatre, Church Lane Building, University of York

5.30pm to 6.30pm (followed by a drinks reception)

Approximately 25% of children in the UK don’t have reliable access to nutritious food. Also known as food insecurity, this can have a huge impact on their health and wellbeing and is one of the major public health challenges of today.

In this inaugural lecture, Professor Maria Bryant will provide insight into her career in this field and the impact of her work – reflecting on the somewhat unconventional nature of her career path but acknowledging how influential and beneficial her work has been to public health. Maria will give particular reference to research focused on food availability and accessibility, food insecurity, obesity and inequalities. She will highlight the importance of acknowledging complexity and showcase examples of research that is driven by an understanding of need rather than interest.

Professor Maria Bryant is Professor of Public Health Nutrition at Hull York Medical School and the University of York. A nutritionist with over 20 years’ experience in the design and delivery of trials and related methodological research in diet and obesity, Maria has a special interest in early years and childhood. In addition to her academic role, she is the Director of Nutrition Research for Born in Bradford, the lead for Diet and Obesity evaluation for a Better Start Bradford and the evaluation Chair of ‘ActEarly’, a Medical Research Council funded project aiming to promote a healthier, happier, and fairer future for children.

Report from HYMS student Dernas Suhail

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 09:58:36 GMT

We are delighted to share with you a report from our most recent bursary award winner, HYMS student Dernas Suhail. The Hull Medical Society supported Dernas to attend the World Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery in Singapore this summer.

Below Dernas reports back to the Society on his experience of attending the conference.

Hull Medical Society Conference Bursary Recipient Report – Dernas Suhail, World Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery 2023

"I want to express my utmost gratitude to the Hull Medical Society for supporting my attendance at the World Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery 2023 (WSRM) in Singapore.

This widely acclaimed biennial conference is the largest meeting in the field of reconstructive microsurgery worldwide. Within a single day at WSRM, you can find yourself practicing microsurgical skills with the masters, listening to awe-inspiring talks of surgeons pushing the boundaries of the specialty, as well as foster several new and existing relationships with colleagues.

In addition to the above experiences, I had the phenomenal opportunity to give an oral presentation, as well as several poster presentations of my current research projects at this esteemed conference, which I am extremely grateful for.

Events such as this provide the platform to learn from, and meet with, leaders of the specialty, consequently inspiring new ideas and generating new knowledge. Hence, I believe the Hull Medical Society’s Student Conference Bursary is a marvellous initiative, as it helps students attend conferences such as WSRM, and therefore develop significant professional growth."

Congratulations to Dernas for winning this years' bursary and we wish you all the very best for the future!

A History of Health in Hull - webinar series available to watch online

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 18:26:18 GMT

Watch our new webinar series now

Rob Bell and Dr Dan Roper have been digging through the HMS Archive to complete the first of two webinar series on Health in Hull from Pre-History down to now. Series 1 opens with an overview followed by 7 webinars. Each one has a focus on the causes of disease and then, the state of caring and cure.

Once all webinars are posted, Dan and Rob will run a Podcast to explore the story some more.

To view the episodes click the link below or copy and paste the text into your browser:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0VIBAzk44N5GBoO2p8jSaOCAdIszaTKJ

The intreprid Dr Humphry Sandwith

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 14:48:12 GMT

An incredible tale of a Hull-born doctor whose life story reads like a prequel to the Raiders of the Lost Ark...

The conflict in the Ukraine highlights the importance of surgeons and medical attention in times of conflict; a timely reminder of the career of Humphry Sandwith – surgeon at the Hull Royal Infirmary in 1847 as cholera raged and then, off to Mesopotamia, Crimea and even to Paris during the Franco Prussian War. His life story reads like a prequel to the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Named Humphry after his Father, Sandwith (1792-1874) was born in Bridlington – his Father was a physician in Hull and his Uncle a Doctor in Beverley where Humphry was apprenticed – he loathed making up prescriptions and wanted to be closer to the action. He studied at the Hull Medical School, London and even spent time in Lille to learn French. At this time, he writes about an epidemic and then scarlatina in Bridlington in the 1820s – this before he qualified.

In 1842-3, he gave a series of lectures to the Hull Literary and Philosophical Society on the defective arrangements in large towns to secure the health and comfort of their inhabitants – a major contribution to the rising activism of local medical practitioners and Edward Francis Collins, the campaigning Editor of Hull Advertiser regarding rapid urbanisation and Public Health.

He was serving at the Hull Royal Infirmary during the Cholera outbreak and wrote a peer reviewed article on the topic. It can only be imagined the strain of working during the cholera outbreak but, despite ill health, Sandwell left to join an archaeological expedition to Nineveh. He spent two years in Constantinople and pivoted his career to become a correspondent for the Times.

When the Crimean War broke out, he served with Omar Pasha in 1853 and reverted to medicine to act as staff surgeon. In 1855, Sandwith was appointed Inspector of Hospitals. During the Siege of Kars , which lasted till the end of November, Sandwith had to contend with cholera and starvation; and after the assault of 29 September he had wounded men, both Turkish and Russian, on his hands. He had to rely mainly on horseflesh broth for his patients. When the Russians captured Kars, Sandwith was set free by General Murayov for his treatment of Russian casualties.

Returning, a celebrity, to London he was invited to meet with Queen Victoria to give her an account of his experience. Later he was given both the Russian order of St Stanislaus and, the French Legion d’Honneur.

Still with a passion for travel he became Colonial Secretary to Mauritius and then, moved back to London and started frequent travels to the Balkans – attracted by the complexity of the political landscape. In 1864 he wrote a novel which told of Turkish misrule in Bulgaria. In 1870 we fine him in Paris during the Franco Prussian War. In the late 1870s he was championing the Serbian cause – raising a huge sum of £7,000 from a lecture tour.

In his final years, he focused on agitating for an improved water supply for London – perhaps influenced by the Public Health drive he had witnessed in Hull back in the 1840s. Both he and his wife suffered ill health and spent time in Davos to recuperate. He died at Paris on 16 May 1881, and was buried at Passy.

We haven’t touched on his views on absentee landlords, nor his essays into archaeology and much more but, what we have is a picture of a man who carried his learnings on disease on crowded Hull far and wide.

This was a crowded life and well worth more research into the various twists and turns – much on public health and urbanisation; even more on the vital role of medicine in war zones. Professor Max Müller wrote of him: ‘I never heard him make a concession. Straight as an arrow he flew through life, a devoted lover of truth, a despiser of all quibbles.’ But he had the one-sidedness of a strong partisan.

With thanks to Rob Bell of The History Troupe

A History Of Health in Hull

Sun, 18 Sep 2022 15:15:13 GMT

A fascinating look into Hull's History from Rob Bell of The History Troupe

The UK's GCSE syllabus has a terrific module on Medicine in Britain – well, London really! In this Heritage Open Day talk, I focused disease and cure in the Port City of Hull. This was the launch of a webinar series with Dr Daniel Roper and, hopefully, an Exhibition tracing the story from Prehistory down to now.

The Historian Braudel spoke of History being what people made of their geography and, in Chaucer's words, Holderness was “a mershey country”. So marshy that mosquitoes thrived and, even Hull poet Andrew Marvell caught malaria back home and died.

The Black Death wiped out 60% of Europe’s population and Hull was decimated. Lacking hands to load and unload cargoes, the City innovated with cranes – the port diverging from all the landing stages on the rivers draining into the Humber.

As Daniel Defoe made plain in his trek around Britain, Hull was crowded, tight streets within the walls. Fast forward into industrialization and urbanization and this created a perfect storm for disease to sweep the city. Cholera hit in the 1830s and caused real damage in 1847. The Hull Medical Society released a hard hitting Report.

Dr Humphrey Sandwith wrote a Paper on this cholera outbreak and went on to have a career which reads like a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Pharmacist in Beverley, surgeon in Hull; joins an archaeological dig in Nineveh, Mesopotamia; off to the Crimean War; a stint in Mauritius and then off for the Prussian siege of Paris. He makes it back to London where he campaigns for better water and sewage infrastructure before dying on a trip to Paris.

Hull built a fine Royal Infirmary and a Medical School joined by Albion Street – Hull’s Harley Street. There was provision for the Deaf and Blind and the grounds of the De La Pole Estate on the edge of town allocated to the mentally ill.

But the 19th c was a fight between waves of typhus, scarlatina and dysentery throughout. Infant mortality was 200 per 1000 – when in Afghanistan (2015) it was 112 and, Africa (2015) it was 50. Irishmen Edward Francis Collins, the Editor of the Hull Advertiser, and local Dr Owen Daly, were vocal campaigners to clean up the streets.

Hull has had a diverse but dangerous industrial past – working with sodden timber from icey Scandinavia was hazardous, unloading asbestos on the docks shortened dockers lives; working on the ice wall fishing near Iceland was more dangerous than mining. And ports in those days had everything that goes with the bars.

As March Bloch said “history is the science of causation”; the story of health is compelling and a pop up exhibition visiting schools and libraries explaining disease and cure would be a valuable educational experience. Perhaps this can interest local companies such as Reckiits and Smith & Nephew – both companies starting out solving local health problems: cleanliness in the home and wound management in WW1.

Content for this History of Health in Hull is being finalised and recording the webinar series will start in October. The summary and early periods will be launched before Christmas. The idea being to launch each one with a “live” workshop with Rob Bell covering the “need to know” information and Dr Dan Roper leading the Q&A. “History” said the American writer Mark Twain “doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes.” Clearly, the History of Health in Hull is full of singular events but there is much to learn from.

Disease and innovation

Thu, 11 Aug 2022 15:36:18 GMT

This month's post from Rob Bell of The History Troupe explores health, disease and innovation around Hull's docks

James Belich, Beit Professor of History at Oxford University, has released The World the Plague Made , a book on the Black Death in the 14th century. I have known Jamie for many years and on a visit to Hull a while back he gave me a master class on local impact.

In 1299 the monks at Meaux sold the settlement of Wyke to the Crown – who changed the name to the fast growing port of Kingston-upon-Hull. The great historian Braudel speaks of history being what people make of their geography and, with so many rivers flowing into the Humber and the low land topography characterized by marshland, roads were “soluble” and multiple landing stages or staithes offered safer connectivity by boat.

Along came the Black Death – just look at the list of vicars in churches across the East Riding and see how many died tending their flock around 1346-52. The economist Schumpeter (1949) wrote of business cycles, the creative destruction of waves of innovation with outmoded methods replaced by the new. The bubonic plague revolutionized labour, trade, and technology early and set the stage for Europe’s global expansion.

There was a halving of population - piles of waste clothes pivoted into feedstock for the paper industry offering greater access to books - but a doubling of everything else. Many more people had disposable incomes; demand grew for sugar, spices, furs and much more. Europe expanded to supply new markets. More significantly for a growing port, the death toll decimated the men who could load and unload cargoes. For the Burghers of Hull this meant investing in cranes - first used 1347 - handling technology transforming the port of Hull and trade flows.

Hull, port city, has a long history of being a vector for disease. Cholera in the 1840s and 40s; Scarletina, 1880s; the Russian Flu in the 1890s and then, in the 1960s and 70s asbestos from South Africa played havoc with the lungs of Hull’s dockers – “no old dockers” was the saw. Snow ball fights in the holds “for a laugh” the saddest of ironies. More recently, along comes Covid to ram home the point.

Trade flows of old, supply chains today are conduits of disease - and triggers of innovation. Home working was a distant possibility when Covid struck; now we zoom rather than travel great distances. And yet, it is the shift from global to local supply, more resilience and less of finely tuned just-in-time delivery with no slack in the trade flow that will have the biggest consequence. Above all, health and wellbeing should feature more in productivity equations. Mental health and debilitating long covid, ventilation in the workplace all count.

Climate and conflict have their impact but when Covid shuts down ports like Shanghai the ripples go far and wide. Jamie Belich has written a magnificent book exploring a paradox: out of the havoc Black Death came innovation - the making of our world. Perhaps the real message is that health is shaping our futures.

June 1911 and safety at work comes to the boil in Hull

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 12:47:54 GMT

With thanks to Rob Bell from The History Troupe for a historic yet topical post on strike action and workers' rights

Throughout history working conditions have triggered unrest and strike action or negotiation and innovation by turns. When unchecked, there have been calamities such as those who have perished in all too many textile sweatshops or the storage disaster that wrecked the docks in Beirut recently.

Hull has had a long history of standing up for safety at work – Lil Bilocca and the Headscarf Revolutionaries argued forcefully for radio operators and other regulations in the unregulated fishing industry saving many lives in an industry now long gone from West Hull and the docks have been the scene of many disputes that have divided opinion – in much the same way as strike action always does.

In June 1911 4,000 men gathered close by the Boer War Memorial, Hull. They carried a banner from the International Seamen’s and Fireman’s Union in protest against working conditions and wages. Of 4,304 men killed at work across all occupations; 1,254 were seamen. Beatings, bullying and intimidation were rife and union members often fired backed up by medical records. Working for only 8 months per year, they had to stretch their wages over the lean months. Dockers in Hull, where most trade was with the Baltic which froze over in winter months, were in the same position with men selected for work from the pen every day – often for the price of a pint or more in the pub. Safety at work was equally perilous – the timber yards full of slippery timbers difficult to handle with no workwear to protect. This was a big issue and even pupils from St Charles RC school went out on strike in common cause!

By the 1860s, concern about the high death rate from lung diseases in certain industrial occupations led to a Report by Sir John Simon, Chief Medical Officer of the Privy Council, who declared that ‘The canker of industrial diseases gnaws at the very root of our national strength.’ The Factory Act of 1864 included a requirement that ‘every factory shall be ventilated in such a manner as to render harmless, so far as is practicable, any gases, dust or other impurities generated in the course of manufacture, that may be injurious to health’.

Almost fifty years after Dr Thackrah of Leeds had made his suggestion, Section 36 of the 1878 Act at last required exhaust ventilation by means of a fan for the removal of dust likely to be injurious to health. Very little was done and words of more or less the same effect feature in Section 63 of the Factories Act 1961.

Women employed in match factories were scandalously exposed to white (yellow) phosphorous, causing the disfiguring ‘Phossy Jaw’ disease, the ‘match girls strike’ of 1888 and eventually the international prohibition of use of the dangerous substance by the Berne Convention of 1906, implemented by an Act of Parliament in Great Britain in 1908.

Fast forward to the 1970s and conditions on the docks remained dangerous. “There’s no old dockers in East Hull” people would say as the unloading of asbestos - used as insulation in the construction industry – was the direct cause of fatal pulmonary disorders. Port employers were slow to react; snow balls made of asbestos snagged in ship holds were used for fun. The high water mark of UK imports was 1975 – despite the fact that in 1918 American Insurance companies refused to insure asbestos workers and it was known conclusively by 1940s that asbestos could cause cancer. Today, every five minutes someone dies of a disease related to asbestos globally. An EU Report highlights that 500,000 people will die of asbestos-related cancer in Europe alone by the year 2030.

Health and Safety at work has a long history and, as Covid demonstrated, has an impact upon working practices. Ventilation in the workplace is no longer an issue with sweatshops; there are laws in place stipulating that workplaces need to be well ventilated with clean air is drawn from a source outside. More locally, Hull based ARCO – founded in 1893 and named the Asbestos and Rubber Company in 1898 - have moved their business model from materials and workwear to an expertise on Health & Safety at work advising on workplace safety, researching everything from improved hard hats and apparel helping to change behaviours and outcomes as well as supply.

Perhaps the last word on the cause of 1911 strikes should come from none other than Daniel Defoe, whose fictional character Robinson Crusoe set sail from Hull and whose Essay on Projects (1697) offered a set of proposals for public works. Shipping, Defoe observed, was especially risky and hazardous for crews and so he proposed an insurance scheme for merchant seamen – their pay should match the risks they faced such as intermittent work and even pirate raids. Pay alone was not enough – a secure livelihood earned in a safe environment had to be in the equation. The rate of pay is only part of a multi-dimensional work context that should concern us all.

A word or two on port wine – and the need for food and drink standards

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 12:00:38 GMT

This month we have a fascinating insight into how Hull's own Joseph James Forrester played a part in the development of food and drink safety standards back in the 19th century.

With thanks to Rob Bell from The History Troupe.

These days food safety, nutrition, food and protein security are inextricably linked. An estimated 600 million – 1 in 10 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food and over 125,000 children die from food borne disease every year. Many of these problems are caused by illegal adulteration of food and drink. And Hull’s own Joseph James Forrester ( 27 May 1809 – 12 May 1861) played a significant role in early attempts to regulate food and drinks doing so with Port wine.

The Assize of Bread (1266) is regarded as being the earliest attempts at legislative control of food and drink standards; regulating the price, weight and quality of bread and beer. Measures had been developed for weight but taste – and adulteration – were a tough nut to crack. The guild system across Europe played an increasingly active role in controls as a means to protect livelihoods – standards to protect the consumer were a long way off.

As the industrial revolution and rapid urbanisation crowded towns and cities, the demand for food and drink soared – so too all manner of adulteration. The list of additives reads like the contents of a chemistry set: strychnine, cocculus inculus (both are hallucinogens) and copperas in rum and beer; sulphate of copper in pickles, bottled fruit, wine, and preserves; lead chromate in mustard and snuff; sulphate of iron in tea and beer; ferric ferrocynanide, lime sulphate, and turmeric in chinese tea; copper carbonate, lead sulphate, bisulphate of mercury, and Venetian lead in sugar confectionery and chocolate; lead in wine and cider. Red lead gave Gloucester cheese its 'healthy' red hue, flour and arrowroot a rich thickness to cream, and tea leaves were 'dried, dyed, and recycled again to be sold as new as the tea weakened.

As late as 1877 the Local Government Board found that approximately a quarter of the milk it examined contained excessive water, or chalk, and ten per cent of all the butter, over eight per cent of the bread, and 50 per cent of the gin had copper in them to heighten the colour. It became clear, however, to the Government of the day that Britain’s growing reputation for adulterated food threatened its export market. This was the wake-up call for Government to act. The Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875 followed which established important principles and became the foundation of modern food law.

Joseph James Forrester came to Food and Drink standards in a curious way. Born in Hull in 1809, he moved to Oporto in Portugal where he joined his uncle James – a partner in Offley, Forrester and Weber a notable Port wine Merchanting company operating to this day. Quickly, Joseph set about mapping the Douro , with a view to the improvement of its navigation to help improve the Port wine industry publishing a remarkable map of the Douro river from Vilvestre on the Spanish frontier to its mouth at St. João da Foz (Oporto) in 1848. There was a separate map of the port wine district (Alto-Douro) showing the prominent wine farms (quintas). Published in 1843 and reprinted in 1852 by order of a select committee at the House of Commons.

Why the fuss? In 1844 Forrester had published a pamphlet on the wine trade, entitled ‘A Word or two on Port Wine,’ anonymously. Eight editions sold like hot cakes as readers delighted in the exposure of malpractice across an industry using corrupt practices to grow the trade. This lead to an invitation to the select committee from which a regulation of this most English of drinks took shape.

He continued to write on this and other practical subjects, publishing tracts on the vine disease, improved manufacture of olive oil and was awarded at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1855 the silver medal for his work on standards. He was named Baron de Forrester for life by Ferdinand II of Portugal in 1855. Forrester was also made knight commander of the orders of Christ and Isabella la Catolica, and received the cross of chevalier of various orders of his adopted country. He was member of the Royal Academies of Lisbon and Oporto, of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Turin, of the English Society of Antiquaries, of the Royal Geographical Societies of London , Paris, and Berlin, and received the highest gold medals reserved for learned foreigners by the pope and by the emperors of Russia, Austria, and France.

Joseph James Forrester was a trail blazer in evidence based standards for food and drink way before legislation in England caught up with the need.

Announcing our collaboration with Med Blog podcasts

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 08:54:06 GMT

Don't miss our new podcast series, created in collaboration with St Mary's College in Hull

Listen now to hear fascinating interviews with medical professionals from in and around Hull and East Yorkshire.

On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6TjiC7ZFEufi4QhoQEbSY1?si=acb6cae0deed4b44

Or on Anchor FM: https://anchor.fm/smchull/episodes/Med-Blog-Podcast-5-e1ej47c

A shortage of bodies for the Hull School of Medicine and Anatomy

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 14:12:11 GMT

This month Rob Bell from The History Troupe describes the macabre history of grave robbing in 19th century Yorkshire

In October 1832 two men were caught unloading a cart at the back door of the Hull School of Medicine and Anatomy on Charles Street. The School had been opened in 1831 by Drs Alderson, father and son, but a shortage of bodies for dissection was proving a constraint. Whether the Hull Medical School were aware of where the bodies came from is unknown. This back door incident in Hull is rooted in a much bigger story.

The fact that bodies were being stolen from graves and sold to Medical Schools across England was nothing new. In Hull in 1806 a surgeon and his apprentice were convicted of opening a grave in Holy Trinity graveyards and throughout the 1820s the Hull Advertiser reports body snatchers operating in East Yorkshire and sending bodies by sea from Hull to Edinburgh and London. In 1829 murderers Burke and Hare were found guilty of selling bodies to a school of anatomy in Edinburgh.

Dissection of bodies by surgeons has been recognised since the 3 ^rd century BCE. The Christian Church forbade human dissection until the 14 ^th century and grave robbery for medical purposes can be found as far back as 1319 in Bologna. Until then, surgeons had practiced on animals. The 15th-century polymath Leonardo da Vinci is said to have dissected around 30 corpses – with no known provenance. In Britain, human dissection was proscribed by law until 1506, when King James IV of Scotland gave royal patronage to the Barber-Surgeons of Edinburgh , allowing them to dissect the "bodies of certain executed criminals". England followed in 1540, when Henry VIII gave patronage to the Company of Barber-Surgeons , allowing them access to four executed felons each year.

Shortages gave rise to body snatching; a practice that was especially concerning to wealthier families. William Shakespeares epitaph reflects widespread concern that burial was no longer sacrosanct: "Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones". In 1721 the Edinburgh College of Surgeons warned students not to become involved in exhumation, suggesting that students had already done the exact opposite.

Official supply was increased when, in an attempt to intensify the deterrent effect of the death penalty Parliament passed the Murder Act of 1752. This allowed judges to substitute the public display of executed criminals with dissection – a fate generally viewed as worse than death – and increase the supply of bodies to anatomy schools. Corpses and their component parts became a commodity, but although the practice of disinterment was hated by the general public, bodies were not legally anyone's property.

By now, grave diggers had become more established resurrectionists operating in a legal grey area. A particular target for ressurectionists were the mass graves that the poor were often buried in. These graves were left uncovered until they were full of coffins. Single graves were far more troublesome to break into – a tunnel would have to be dug, sometimes four feet down, the coffin broken into and the body carried to the surface.

The Napoleonic Wars triggered an increase in demand for surgeons across Europe and this highlighted a shortage of supply once again as anatomy studies suffered because of a lack of “subjects” for dissection. A reduction in executions, the traditional source of cadavers, religious objections and public distaste exacerbated shortages. All this and poor refrigeration methods meant a deficit of fresh bodies for medical studies.

To try and contain the escalating situation, the 1832 Anatomy Act was passed in the United Kingdom, making body snatching a criminal offence. However, body snatching continued to occur throughout the late 19th century. At an inquest held at Sculcoates Public Hall on January 8 ^th 1834, a jury was shown the body of an elderly woman and a coffin with a broken lid.

The body of Elizabeth Smith, buried two days earlier in Holy Trinity New Burial Ground on Castle Street, was identified by her son, George. The case was full of witnesses “forgetting the facts” and finally the three men who had attempted to deliver the corpse to the Hull School of Medicine and Anatomy were charged with the theft of a piece of calico cloth but the Recorder decided that there had been no intent to steal the shroud so the charge was changed to “unlawfully, willfully and indecently” entering the burial ground and taking away the body”. Sentencing them to three months imprisonment with a fine of £20 the Recorder said that they had been convicted of a great outrage on public decency and private feeling”. The body was not the problem.

Historically, Medical Schools have relied on the gallows, jails or poorhouses as sources of bodies but the 1960s and 1970s saw the rise of a viable alternative: body donation or people giving “informed consent” of the deceased during their lifetime. Even as virtual simulations, and other 3D representations of the human body are increasingly used in anatomy education the value of dissection for teaching purposes remains the dominant practice. Demand grows and redemptionists remain.

Dr Frank Cecil Eve (1871-1952) and Artificial Resuscitation

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 12:30:03 GMT

This month we learn about the history of resuscitation and it's links to Hull in the early 20th Century. With thanks to Rob Bell from The History Troupe.

In 1906 Dr Frank Eve was appointed Physician to Hull’s Royal Infirmary (1906-52) and the Victoria Hospital for children. By 1932, he had devised the method of “rocking” respiration - the Eve method – that proved vital to lifesavers seeking to keep victims breathing indefinitely. The Eve Method that was adopted by the Royal Navy, the Swedish Navy and used by many others during WW2.

Born February 15 ^th 1871 in Bedfordshire, he was educated at Bedford School and graduated in Natural Sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He went on to become a demonstrator of physiology at Yorkshire College, Leeds before completing his clinical training at St Thomas’s Hospital. Eve’s medical interests were many and varied; they included pernicious anaemia, diabetes, clinical psychology, and artificial respiration.

Many emergencies require rapid action to resuscitate someone in distress – especially relevant to accidents at sea. In 1903, Dr Schaefer had devised a method of resuscitation in cases of drowning or asphyxia – pushing on the ribs near the small of the back – became the standard response.

The Eve (or teeter-totter) Method emerged in response to the Royal Navy’s failure to deal with a number of drowning crew being hauled out of the cold Atlantic as WW2’s war at sea intensified. This rocking method was effective, popular and had the backing of medicine.

Dr Eve had devised the method when treating a 2 year old in Hull who was fading away with the death rattle – mucus surging to and fro in the windpipe. Titling the child, the mucus cleared but, she remained unable to breathe – because her diaphragm wasn’t working. This was due to the diptheria from which the child had recovered six weeks before. Had Eve left her head sloping the lungs would have compressed and this might bring on pneumonia.

Spotting a rocking chair in the room, he strapped the girl to it so that the weight of the abdominal contents could push the diaphragm up and down like a piston. The Shaeffer method assumed that the diaphragm would work as well after drowning as it did when the person was fully alive. The Eve Method gets plenty of air into the lungs – 600 cubic centimetres for each stroke or 20 times more than the Schaefer technique previously.

An alternative technique, the Holger Nielsen technique, is described in the first edition of the Boy Scout Handbook USA (1911), described a form of artificial respiration where the person was laid on their front, with their head to the side, and a process of lifting their arms and pressing on their back was used.

The Eve method was adopted by the Royal Navy and Emergency Services in 1943. Like other methods of manual artificial respiration, Eve's rocking technique was eventually replaced by mouth-to-mouth respiration in the 1960s. Dr Eve’s work was acknowledged in the Lancet and the London Times but there is a huge irony in this whole story. To focus on the Eve Method to illustrate a life is to ignore a rather large elephant in the room so we will take a technical detour before we close the biography.

Rescue breathing by mouth-to-mouth expired air ventilation (EAV) was being used in Britain towards the end of the 18th century, despite the Royal Humane Society (RHS) withdrawing its official endorsement in 1782 and instead promoting use of inflating bellows, or chest compression. The rationale takes us back to theories around “mal aria” - the perceived undesirability of expired air, with its “poisonous gas” - a viewpoint held among doctors and “philosophers” of the day. Equally, it was considered such a delicate subject that the RHS advised: “interposing a handkerchief for delicacy”.

An 1802 RHS report of the RHS listed action “to restore breathing” — not allowed to be effected by any form of EAV — as only sixth in its list of interventions in resuscitation. By 1812, the RHS was so set against mouth-to-mouth inflation, because of its belief that expired air was “poisonous”, that should inflating bellows be unavailable, the recommendation was for the surgeon to practice alternating compression and relaxation of the abdomen. John Snow – of the pump as a source of cholera transmission fame – was also a student of this resuscitation topic working closely with midwives and challenging births. Fast forward to the 20th century and Eves Method leaps ahead.

Now for the rehabilitation of MMV from those very early roots. Anaesthetists in the 1940s, such as Ralph Waters, Robert Dripps, and then, Robert Macintosh and William Mushin, were advocates of MMV and James Elam was “re-discovering” it. Studies, 1957-9, by Archer Gordon, Elam and Peter Safar resolved previous airway problems and formalised the primacy of MMV in mainstream medicine. The global breakthrough came with the adoption of MMV in the US and especially after endorsement from the 1962 international symposium at Stavanger in Norway. Clearly there is much to explore in this whole story – way beyond the scope of this post.

Our man Dr Frank Eve was a past president of the East Riding division of the British Medical Association and a former chairman of the Hull Medical Society. Aside of medicine, he was a terrific ice skater and an expert in golf, tennis and fishing. Eve married in 1911 Sarah Ellice Buyers, a doctor, by whom he had one son. He died at Beverley, which had been his home since the destruction of his house in Hull by bombing during the War.

Seven Seas sets sail

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 08:50:16 GMT

Rob Bell from The History Troupe brings us another fascinating insight into Hull's medical and industrial history...

On 31 ^st January 1952, Seven Seas was set up to market a range of vitamin tablets. The business emerged from BCLO (British Cod Liver Oil); founded by trawler owners in 1935 to exploit a bi-product of fishing for cod – cod liver oil.

Cod liver oil, as the name implies, comes from the livers of cod fish – the Gadidae species. Atlantic cod and Pacific cod are most commonly used to extract cod liver oil. The fish get their omega-3 fatty acids by eating phytoplankton, which absorb microalgae. Microalgae is the original source of rich omega-3 fatty acids.

Today, Seven Seas is owned by multi-national powerhouse P&G with facilities moved away from Hull and the company is a player in a $37 billion vitamin and dietary supplement business. This post celebrates Hull’s pivotal contribution to the Life Sciences industry to this day with a closer look at the roots and heritage of this important cod liver oil industry.

Since the 1700s fishing communities on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans had used cod liver oil to ward off all manner of ailments. It was first used in medicine in 1789 to treat rheumatism followed by rickets in 1824 as a vitamin D deficiency was recognized as a root cause. Other fish oils are extracted from the tissue of deep sea cold water fish, including tuna, trout, mackerel, herring, halibut and salmon. The original cod liver oil was a dark liquid that had a fishy smell and taste. It was made by separating the cod’s livers and leaving them in a barrel to rot until the oil naturally separated.

In the 1850’s steaming the livers to create a greater yield replaced. This cod liver oil had a paler colour. However, the nasty taste and smell was still there. T.J. Smith, a founder of the Smith & nephew company who owned a pharmacy in Hull entered the national market, when he discovered, aided possibly by his city’s standing as the principal port for trade with Scandinavia, that Norwegian cod liver oil tasted less obnoxious, and was less expensive than that brought in from Newfoundland. Cod Liver Oil helped Smith & Nephew scale up in the early years.

From the 1880s, Hull grew a huge fishing industry that defined the West Hull community with menfolk at sea, women working the fish and Hessle “Road” was open all tides. The fish was sold to fish and chip shops across the North - protein for the working classes - and cod liver oil was extracted and sold by skippers as a bonus to their catch.

As Hull entered its Golden Age up to WW1, prosperity was assured by the industrial diversity. The fishing industry was much more than the men on the trawlers as ancilliary services grew. The Hull Fish Manure and Oil Company was founded in 1891 as a cooperative with nearly all the local trawler-owners, fish-curers, and fish merchants subscribing to its capital. The total employment in Hull associated with fishing was much greater than the bare numbers of fishermen would suggest. Fishermen alone, however, were numerous: about 1,500 were recorded in the Censuses from 1881 to 1911. Paul Gibson’s excellent historical insights on Hull highlights a 1954 study estimating that there were about three persons employed in ancillary occupations for every one in trawling. This ratio may have been the case for generations.

By the 1920’s, cod liver oil was used with animals and, as demand increased, the industry moved to move to a new refinery at Marfleet on the edge of the city. Early in the 1930’s, Boyd Line Ltd, Hudson Brothers Ltd, and Hellyer Brothers Ltd experimented. They were a group of trawler companies operating out of Hull. The limited businesses boiled the livers on board the trawlers out at sea while they were fresh. The oil had such a high quality that the companies formed a cooperative – British Cod Liver Oil Producers (Hull) Ltd.

By 1936 pharmaceutical quality cod liver oil was being sold in small attractive bottles as Seven Seas. marketed across the UK. Later that year, Ken Moxley, had the idea to market cod liver oil in attractive display bottles. Pharmaceutical quality cod liver oil was being sold in small bottles as Seven Seas and marketed in a huge ‘King Cod’ campaign – a large wooden canvas fish on a wagon with a loud-speaker playing “a Life On The Ocean Wave”. In parallel, cod liver oil was distributed free of charge, as part of the Ministry of Food’s Welfare Food Scheme, to pregnant women, new mothers and children under five.

During the Second World War, demand grew. It grew so much that trawlers from Hull and Grimsby could not supply enough oil. Supplies were imported from Iceland as the business continued to expand - margarine, industrial products, vitamins, health supplements and even “Welfare Orange Juice” for the Ministry of Food.

In the 1970s a series of scientific tests confirmed the composition: Vitamin A, Vitamin D and polyunsaturated fats. This led to health professionals recommend it as a prevention rather than a cure. Seven Seas has moved around the Stock Exchange several times. BCLO was taken over by Imperial Foods (of Imperial Tobacco); then, the Hanson Group; in 1996 on to Merck Group and then, in 2019, sold to P&G.

With Smith & Nephew and Reckitts remaining in the City, the Life Sciences plays a huge role in Hull’s future. As we consider the roots and heritage of the wider industry, more should be done to make clear the opportunities for youth in this fast-expanding sector. What new Life Sciences businesses will emerge from by-products of what is done now or, as part of the new emphasis on wellbeing? Not just products but, through data, much could emerge from AI and ML services offering research and medical diagnostics.

Cast of Characters #3 - Dr Owen Daly (1821-1892)

Fri, 24 Dec 2021 16:07:15 GMT

This month Rob Bell from The History Troupe discusses another local character from Hull's rich medical history...

On the 28 ^th December 1892 Doctor Owen Daly passed away at home; 26 Albion Street, the heart of what was, stretching from the Royal Infirmary to the Hull Medical School on Kingston Square, the Medical Quarter of Kingston-upon-Hull. Dr Owen Daly, more than any other, personifies the vision and ethos of the HMS.

Born (06.03.1821) in Mornington Hall, County Meath, Ireland he was the second son of Owen Daly, JP (1780-1847) who had married a Miss Clark. He took his BA (1843) and MD (1857) to become a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland and of Physicians in London moving to Hull in the 1840s to become the elected physician to the Hull Royal Infirmary, 1857 and the consulting physician in 1886.

Among the appointments held by Doctor Daly were those of physician to the Sculcoates dispensary and consulting physician to the Grimsby District Hospital. He was lecturer on the principles of materia medica and therapeutics at the whole in East Riding School of Medicine and on April the 5th 1870 he was appointed justice of the peace.

1847 was a busy year for Dr Owen Daly. In June he married the daughter of Thomas Oldham of Louth in Lincolnshire and this was the year when he banded together with 33 other Doctors in Hull to form the Hull Medical Society; a response to a request from Central Government to form these Societies across Britain. We cover the Report on the Sanitary State of the Town (1847) elsewhere.

Dr Owen Daly was one of several prominent Irishmen who held prominent positions in Hull throughout the 19 ^th century. Where the Irish across Britain were a growing presence and resented for undercutting wages in the job market; Hull’s Irish settled. This was largely to do with strong leadership: the Sisters of Mercy and their strong role in education, Andrew McManus, Head of Police; Edward Francis Collins, Editor of the Hull Advertiser and Dr Daly.

Hull was largely a Nonconformist City; Anglicans had a lower profile. And yet, it was Collins and Daly who led the focus on Public Health across the City. It started with Cholera as both men arrived. Collins was clear: “Cholera is a physical evil to be combatted by physical remedies. To combat it, or rather to prevent its approach . . . we must clear out such places as Stewart's Yard, Broad Entry, and Narrow Entry, where the people are weekly poisoned with foul smells and nauseous impurities as patent to the senses of all men as Hull itself'. Daly echoed the thoughts and, the Report on the Health of Hull (1847) was published by the Hull Advertiser itself.

Dr Daly was active within the Profession; contributing a focus on phthisis and other pulmonary conditions. In 1859 he published his findings on the use of a tincture of larch in arresting and restraining pulmonary hemorrhage. It possesses powerful astringent properties combined with the styptic and slightly stimulating qualities of a terebinthinate – a rare combination that appears to present all the requisites for a perfect styptic and is a mild tonic with an agreeable balsamic “pnic” flavour.

His role in the founding of the HMS is his major contribution and with this the work on Cholera in Hull in the 1840s. This aspect of his career will be covered in other posts. That aside, he was the Father of two sons – one of whom followed in his Father’s footsteps at the Hull Royal Infirmary. An entry in the Lancet for 1917 sees Dr Edward O. Daly as Consulting Surgeon at a time when the hospital had 244 beds.

The Chris Church Medal Annual Undergraduate Prize Essay Competition

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 11:33:39 GMT

This prize is open to any medical student from one of the medical schools in Yorkshire. The winner will be awarded a solid silver engraved medal, and required to deliver a short presentation to a YSA meeting.

The medal is awarded annually in honour of the late Dr Chris Church, a consultant anaesthetist at Bradford Royal Infirmary whose enthusiasm for undergraduate involvement in anaesthetics was legendary. On his death Dr Church’s family established this award for the YSA.

The essay should be a maximum of 1500 words and 10 references , and based around an interesting case you have seen during an anaesthetic or intensive care placement. The essay will be marked by members of the YSA Committee based on the case report, the clinical implications and learning points of the case, how well the case has been researched and the overall presentation of the essay.

Essays should be submitted from your university email account to the YSA Honorary Secretary, Dr Andy Lumb at andrew.lumb@nhs.net before 31st August 2022.

Report from HYMS Student Rishab Makam

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 10:29:49 GMT

The Impact of Antiarrhythmics on Human Pulmonary Arteries: In Vitro Characterisation

A Polio revolution takes place

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 12:40:20 GMT

This month Rob Bell from The History Troupe discusses a fascinating piece of history from Hull's medical past...

In 1961, the Beatles played the Cavern Club for the first time, the farthing was no longer legal tender, the E-Type Jaguar was launched and Spurs won the double. Hull was stunned by a fierce outbreak of polio and responded with a speed that would impress the UK Cabinets Cobra Emergency response team today.

Between 1947 and 1958 over 30,000 people were disabled across the UK by Polio – short for poliomyelitis. Spread by nasal and oral transmission, the infection spreads to the digestive tract with a slight viral illness infecting 98% of cases. Sometimes, 1 to 2% of cases worsened as polio passed into the blood stream and attacks the nervous system causing paralysis.

Hull had a long association with the disease and the Hull Braves Guild of Poor Things had been set up in 1898 to offer support for children affected by polio. By 1925, the title had been shortened to the Hull Braves Guild and a cast iron framed warehouse on Roper Street was acquired – to be disbanded in 2010 and then demolished to make way for the Bonus arena.

In 1955 a Doctor Salk had developed a vaccination that injected a dead virus. This required several re-vaccinations to give good protection. A serious outbreak in Hull began in September 1961 – it was said to come from the docks. The Final Report from S. R. Jamieson, the Hull Council’s Chief Medical Officer, confirmed that there had been an explosive outbreak of poliomyelitis occurred in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire from 20th September 1961 until 31st December 1961when 180 suspected cases were admitted to Castle Hill hospital. The disease was confirmed in 95 cases and there were 2 deaths. The then standard Salk treatment failed to stem rising numbers.

On November 6 ^th Dr. Alexander Hutchison, the Hull Council Medical Officer for Health, contacted the government Ministry of Health to seek permission to use the new Sabin oral vaccine as an alternative strategy – it had not been tried before. Within days Hull mobilised hundreds of volunteers, health workers, business people, school teachers and council officers worked together to curb the polio outbreak in Hull.

The vaccination was given by putting two drops of the vaccine on a sugar lump or in a teaspoon of syrup for infants. The sugar lumps were provided free by Tate and Lyle. The campaign was a great success and in two weeks 358,000 were given the vaccination. That is 55,000 more than the population of the city at the time.

This was the first time that the Sabin vaccine had been used in Western Europe for a mass vaccination to halt an outbreak. The 'epidemic' had passed after two weeks leaving 85 having suffered the results of polio. This use of the oral vaccination led to the use across the UK that all but eradicated the disease.

Overall, as the Analysis from the outbreak followed a different pattern from epidemics in past years, and especially the 1947 epidemic. The distribution of cases geographically and seasonally was atypical - the cases mostly concentrated in a densely populated area near the docks, and after a rapid rise at the end of the normal poliomyelitis season, the epidemic declined dramatically.

There is a twist to the story. A favourite of Pathe news at the cinema, the success of the Sabin vaccine in Hull could not be statistically proved as the coverage of the vaccination was so comprehensive there was no significant sample that hadn't been vaccinated to contrast against.

See: Clinical Study of the Hull Poliomyelitis outbreak, 1961. S. R. Jamieson, M.D., D.P.H.

Cast of Characters #2 - Edward Francis Collins

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 15:07:41 GMT

This month Rob Bell from The History Troupe discusses another local character from Hull's rich medical history...

Edward Francis Collins, born in Drogheda, Ireland on 19th October 1807, came to England to study for the bar and became the assistant of Joseph Hume, the Radical advocate of the Great Reform Bill (1832). By 1841, Collins was the Editor of the Hull Advertiser and up to his resignation in 1866 built a reputation as one of the most prominent radical voices of the local press nationally and a thorn in the side of the status quo when it did not meet his exacting standards.

This was a time when many local papers syndicated their Leader columns. In one of his earliest leaders Collins, in December 1846, was prescient: “if only our Cabinet Ministers would be as liberal and expeditious in feeding the Irish as in shooting the Afghans.” As “that proverbial hunger that breaks through walls” ravaged his homeland, he toured the country during the Irish Famine and sent back reports for the Hull Advertiser. During the Crimean War (1853-6) his Leaders were critical of the Government and used data from Florence Nightingale and accounts from the Sisters of Mercy who served alongside her to lambast the fact that more men died from disease than were killed in action.

Collins was a campaigning journalist and an activist in support of Radical causes. An advocate of free trade, he fought for the control of the Hull workhouse by the poor-law board, and supported the drainage scheme recommended by the General Board of Health. He pushed hard for the very poor, many of whom were immigrant Irish cotton spinners. In a Report he published in 1849 he lambasted local landlords whilst making it plain that the “working classes spent the majority of their income on alcohol, drugs and gambling rather than spending their money on improving their own environment”. He was an enthusiastic advocate of the Temperance Movement.

He campaigned for religious toleration for Jews and Catholics. Throughout the 19th century, the Irish were ridiculed in the press and public opinion could be hostile. In Hull, the local Irish community included McManus, Chief of Police, Dr Owen Daly of the HMS and Collins – all were focussed on Public Health and Law and Order. Added to this, the Sisters of Mercy built schools before chapels to educate young girls as well as boys in the poorer districts. Irish assimilation in Hull was remarked upon.

Collins would not allow sectarian prejudice to intrude on his Public Health drive. “We cannot but regret,”, he wrote in 1851, “that, whilst so many of the clergy of Hull take great trouble to innoculate the minds of the people with uncharitable and ignorant prejudice against the imaginary danger of Popery not one of them has come forward to organise a movement against the prevention of sickness by the frequent use of excellent Public Baths.” Madley Street, Beverley Road and Albert Avenue came later but seeds were sown.

The “Lowgate Philosopher” was controversial. The Bellman, a satirical paper, lampooned the Hull Advertiser as an “unEnglish, unclean and most intolerable results of the Irish Craze – a Sepoy Journal”. Collins himself was styled as “this oleaginous incubus, this amorphous being born like an Arctic jelly fish of oozy exudation and hyperborean fog, this pulpy, plethoric, imposthumation … looks upon us all in his blubbery beatitude ... occasionally coming up to blow from the slimy depths and miry beds where mud fish repose in the unmolested obscurity and twilight of effete superstition.” When he left Hull, an Orange Order band came over to celebrate his departure.

Collins was a strong ally of the Hull Medical Society and their Report on the Cholera (1849) was published by the Hull Advertiser. Together, these activists moved the agenda urging the Council to improve the physical structure of the area through surfacing roads, laying drains, lighting streets and ensuring new housing had adequate drainage. They were strong on controlling or removing potential causes of disease: emptying privies, refuse collection, the regulation of offensive trades and dairies as well as collecting statistics on deaths due to infectious diseases.

They were pro-active, promoting good health with the establishment of burial grounds away from the crowded city centre and, the promotion of parks for fresh air and recreation for slum dwellers. Collins polarised opinion being seen as “a political harlequin and donnybrook litterateur”. Edward Francis Collins moved back to London in 1866 where he died in obscurity in 1872 and is buried at Kensal Green.

That “famed producer of mental claret” had been a pivotal advocate of what would now be called social justice causes across Hull. His work supported the HMS and is another illustration of how these activists did so much to lay the framework for the City we know today – sanitation, public parks, greenery and the use of statistical evidence to support Policy. Edward Francis Collins was a Hullensian from elsewhere to be proud of; his contribution worthy of a plaque.

Cast of Characters #1 - Dr John Alderson

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 13:28:53 GMT

Welcome to the first of a new series of posts about the History of Medicine in Hull! These posts will accompany our events series for 2021-22 and will be updated at least once a month.

This month Rob Bell from The History Troupe starts our series with a look at a local character from our city's rich medical history...

Dr John Alderson (1758 – 16th September 1829)

Ever wondered who the statue in front of the Hull Royal Infirmary represents? Over fifteen thousand people attended the funeral of Dr John Alderson in September 1829 at St Marys Lowgate; testimony to his contribution to Hull.

Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk he studied medicine in Edinburgh. Marrying Sarah Scott of Beverley, he moved to Hull in 1787; eleven children followed, only five survived. They lived on Saville Street and then, Charlotte Street near Hull College today. Three of his sons – Christopher, Ralph and James (later Sir James) – became doctors, and one, John, became a solicitor.

Alderson built a large medical practice in the town and was elected physician to the Hull General Infirmary, which opened in 1782 and moved to Prospect Street, opposite the Central Library today, in 1784. Alderson was honorary physician there for 40 years giving his services for free. In 1814 he founded the Sculcoates Refuge for the Insane and was made a freeman of the city in 1813.

He was president of the Hull Subscription Library in 1801 and of the Literary and Philosophical Society in 1822. He founded the Hull Mechanics' Institute in 1825 and was keen to press commercial interests. He founded the Hull School of Medicine in Kingston Square which opened two years after Alderson died. This completed what would now be called a Healthcare Quarter with the Infirmary on Prospect Street, Albion Street full of medical practitioners and, Kingston Square with the Medical School. His son James gave the inaugural lecture.

Alderson’s published work is significant. An Essay on the Nature and Origin of the Contagion of Fever (1788) anticipated the rapid urbanisation and Public Health crises to come that: “crowded cities breathe their own destruction”. He was interested in orthography and soils; he even published a work to prove the existence of Ghosts which explored their supposed appearance in a world of hallucinations and illusions experienced by the sick: “explaining by natural causes what has hitherto been considered supernatural”.

Photo credit: René & Peter van der Krogt, https://statues.vanderkrogt.net

Rob Bell joins the Hull Medical Society team

Sun, 19 Sep 2021 14:48:59 GMT

The HMS is delighted to introduce The History Troupe as partners in devising, developing and delivering content on the story of health in Hull through time.

Founded in Hull by local writer Rob Bell, The History Troupe is all about the roots, heritage and futures of communities. Workshops, performances, exhibitions and talks have been devised and delivered and the collaboration with HMS will draw from this experience.

Rob Bell was educated at the Marist College (now St Marys College), St Andrews and Oxford Universities. He is a logistics specialist and has worked in over 30 countries. He is a Visiting Fellow at Durham University Business School.

Rob worked with the late Paul Jackson, lay Chair of the Hull CCG, on the concept for the Medical Health and Social Care Academy at St Marys College. He has worked closely with Dr Dan Roper on a range of topics which will feature on social media and other ideas are being explored.

For more information: www.thehistorytroupe.org

New Hull Medical Society Youtube channel

lucia.crowther@live.co.uk (Lucia Crowther) — Sun, 22 Nov 2020 18:02:32 GMT

Check out our new youtube channel

As with most organisations this year, the Hull Medical Society's events programme for 2020 has gone online. Although many of our members have been able to join us live through Zoom, we know not everyone has been free to join the events on the night.

To ensure the talks by this season's wonderful speakers reach as wide an audience as possible, we have now launched a brand new Hull Medical Society youtube channel with recordings of all the recent events to watch at your leisure.

Enjoy!

Click here to watch

Watch Dr David Unwin's talk online

lucia.crowther@live.co.uk (Lucia Crowther) — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 08:08:30 GMT

We ae delighted to announce that Dr David Unwin's fascinating talk from September on "Reversing type 2 diabetes with diet" is now available to watch in full on our youtube channel

Click here to watch

Highlights from the UPRAS Conference 2019

lucia.crowther@live.co.uk (Lucia Crowther) — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 14:18:06 GMT

Each year the Hull Medical Society provides financial support for a certain number of medical students to attend academic conferences, enabling them to expand their knowledge and experience. Recently we supported Yangmyung Ma to attend the 2019 Undergraduate Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Conference (UPRAS) Conference in London, and he sent us back this fascinating report on his trip.

The 12th Undergraduate Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Conference (UPRAS) was held at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) in London on the 30th of November this year with an overwhelmingly accomplished list of speakers. They introduced the students and junior doctors to the key components of plastic surgery with a few that were incredibly inspiring whom I will talk about today. They were all delivered with witty anecdotes, real enthusiasm and optimism, giving everyone in the room a sense of hope for their respective careers.

For those who have not visited the RSM building, it is definitely worth visiting, with such a sense of grandeur and elegance, you would almost expect Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March to be played as you entered. After entry, I was directed towards the auditorium, where the comfortable red seats and layout of the room gave an air of seriousness and importance. As I sat down and looked around, I could imagine the historical moments in medicine that might have happened in the auditorium, preparing me for the series of amazing lectures ahead.

The event was introduced by Mr. Naveen Cavale, the President of Plastic Surgery Section of the RSM, who began by describing the benefits of plastic surgery, with its unique selling point as a sociable specialty! He described the pleasure of being able to work with everyone and how great it is to be a popular person with everyone’s personal phone numbers from across many disciplines! With a more serious tone, he then stressed the importance of eagerness, having interest and teamwork by repeatedly saying “Don’t do anything you don’t want to do” and “Find people to play with”, a resounding message for all in the room.

The first talk was given by Mr. Jorge Leon-Villapalos, an esteemed Paediatric Lead Clinician of the Burns Unit at Chelsea and Westminster hospital on the acute management of a burned patient. The talk began with a series of gruesome burn victims, very early as he joked, for Saturday morning, before explaining how the “Mad, sad or bad” enter the Burns Unit present with different degrees of burns and how they assess them using the Jackson’s Burn Model. He then continued to address the importance of accurate assessment with ATLS, burn depth and size, moving onto the management using the Parkland Formula. It was an incredibly informative talk with devastating pictures that caused some reactions from the audience which concluded with the importance of a multidisciplinary team and essentially teamwork in getting through life. He mentions that as a Burns surgeon, that “you are the last antidote to pessimism” and that this is not possible without listening to everyone.

The next talk was equally informative, beginning with a history lesson in plastic surgery. Mrs. Jenny L C Geh, the lead plastic skin surgeon for Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust Departments, explained how Harold Gillies, the father of plastic surgery began in Queen Mary Hospital Sidcup and how the birth of plastic surgery owes its thanks to war! More gruesome pictures followed, the most interesting being the pictures of a lady with a huge hole in the nose due to skin cancer that was fixed with a forehead flap, one of the oldest plastic surgery procedures. Huge squamous cell carcinomas, devastating metastatic melanomas took centre stage as she described how no-one can really know what to expect in this career, which makes it exciting. She stressed how everyone needs a Plan A, B and C in their journey through plastic surgery especially since this field involves big traumatic cases to intricate microsurgery. Her enthusiasm throughout the presentation left a reminder of the importance of passion and commitment in each individual’s journey as she concluded that it is the patients that make the job satisfying, and therefore how important it is to listen to the patient in their recovery and treatment through even the terminal stages of cancers.

The highlight of the morning was a talk by Mr. Simon Filson, a consultant paediatric plastic surgeon at Evelina Children’s Hospital, on paediatric plastic surgery and training abroad. He began humorously by saying that plastic surgery was “Make it up as you go along - plasty” that allows the individual to be inventive and artistic with their work but was a luxury that came with the downside of having to actually learn the basic fundamental techniques! It was amazing to hear his journey in Haifa, Israel at the world-renowned trauma centre Rambam Hospital with the difficulties he faced such as language, culture and Syrian Civil War that was going on at the time. One of his slides contained a quote form Rambam, a Jewish philosopher, that said, “Teach thy tongue to say, ‘I don’t know’ and thou shalt progress”, which was very reassuring for the medical students in the room as it is a phrase that we most often say. He explained how this phrase had helped him learn and undertake more responsibility as he showed us before and after pictures of devastating injuries such as bullet wounds to the head, dodgem car injuries and many war causalities. It was the dramatic transformation of the patient from what seemed to be unsalvageable to normal functioning, aesthetic state that was amazing and left me in absolute awe and admiration of the processes that happened in between the two contrasting pictures. By remembering the basics, the consultant explained how you can make a real difference in such a short amount of time and how immense the sense of achievement and pride was, which was incredibly inspirational.

Talks by Dr. Sarah-Jayne Edmundson, Mr. Simon Wood and Professor Ash Mosahebi addressed the more practical side of the event by explaining their respective journeys and the tips they gained along the way, in particular with projects and research. They were talks on how to get ahead and what kind of mindset we need to be in, the most memorable being ‘plasticity’ which obtained many laughs. Overall, with amazing speakers giving inspiring talks, the whole day was nothing short of excellent and with the chance to talk to them personally during breaks, it was truly a wonderful experience and one I recommend anyone who is interested in plastic surgery to attend.

Yangmyung Ma

Discover Hull’s Medical Past in the Society’s Library

lucia.crowther@live.co.uk (Lucia Crowther) — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 17:14:17 GMT

“A library is thought in cold storage” – Lord Herbert Samuel

What happens when the path of “animal spirits” down your spine becomes blocked?* How do you prevent “delicious wines” from giving you “pain, and melancholia, frightful ideas, horrible dreams, and black despair”?** The answers to these, and many more medical mysteries, can be found in a rare and unique collection of medical texts housed in the Hull Medical Society library.

Doctors in Hull contributed works to the library for 170 years until the start of the Second World War. But many of the texts are much older; some dating to the 1500s.

From Alderson’s 1788 Essay on Contagion to Zimmerman’s Treatise on Dysentery, the library carries historical works on health care, anatomy, pharmacology and surgery. Alongside lesser-known pamphlets containing medically dubious advice sit early editions from some of the great thinkers in medical science. These include the whole collected writings of ‘Father of Medicine’ Thomas Sydenham, and works by Boyle, Darwin and Descartes.

The journals, textbooks and reference tomes have all been owned or used by medical professionals in Hull over the centuries. Taken as a whole, therefore, the collection represents a record of the changing patterns of medical and surgical practice in the city, and is the largest collection of its kind in the UK. In addition, complete runs of the BMJ and Lancet until 1955, along with numerous other 19th century journals, trace the development of medical thought over the years.

Originally housed in Hull Infirmary in the 18th century, the Hull Medical Society took on guardianship of this precious collection and transferred it to the nearby East Riding Medical Education Centre, where a programme of restoration and cataloguing is underway. Today, the Reading Room and the library’s illustrated catalogue can be accessed by appointment.

So, whether you want to delve into the discovery that foxgloves increase blood flow, or put yourself in the shoes of an 18th Century accoucheur, this unique resource is on your doorstep.

* You inevitably die painfully, according to J Purcell’s 1714 Treatise on Cholick

** Temperance is the key, if you follow the counsel of G Cheyne’s Essay on Gout (1720).

7 Minute Medics!

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 19:38:16 GMT

Hull Medical Society is delighted to announce its sponsorship of the fantastic medical podcast 7 Minute Medics which was created by HYMS graduate Dr Martha Nicholson!
Here's what Martha has to say...

7 Minute Medics is a medical revision podcast aimed at UK medical students in their clinical years, which I began during my 5th year of medical school while revising for finals. While revising for my GCSEs I liked to listen to the BBC Bitesize podcasts – in bed, in the car, whenever I was doing anything that didn’t require much concentration. Although there were similar revision podcasts and videos aimed at medical students that I’d used at university, there was no podcast that offered exactly what I was looking for: they tended to be either non-UK oriented, or full lectures in podcast form which I’d lose track of if I was trying to listen while doing something else.

Making each episode seven minutes long was a bit of an arbitrary decision, based on the fact that five minutes didn’t seem long enough to cover a topic, and trying to keep it under ten minutes encouraged me to be succinct. I found it very helpful for my own revision to have to summarise revision topics in my own words for the podcast, and decided to get more people involved when I realised that it could be a good way for other medical students to not only revise themselves, but to also get some extra teaching experience and feedback on their work.

With the help of Hull Medical Society I have now been able to purchase a full set of portable recording equipment. As well as being a big upgrade from my smartphone, which I had been using to record since the inception of the podcast, this will allow me to record in more public places which had previously been too noisy to record using my phone, opening up the opportunity to try podcasting to more medical students and junior doctors."

Dr Martha Nicholson

To listen to Martha's podcast check it out here for Apple Podcasts, or click here for the link to her Spotify page.

Happy listening!

Reporters at risk

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 19:45:42 GMT

Continuing the discussion on 'Health and Human Rights' this autumn...

Hull Medical Society’s series of guest lectures on the subject of Health and Human Rights continues in November with a talk from Reuters journalist Zoe Tabary. It is the first of two talks on the subject of journalism: coming up in April 2020 we have a talk with Tatyana Movshevich of BBC radio who will discuss the situation for journalists and activists in Russia and Central Asia.

Press freedom is a human rights issue. Without free dissemination of information and ideas, democracy cannot function and citizens cannot hold their government to account. In the area of public health, it is especially important that accurate information can be shared freely in order to improve living and working conditions, share scientific advancements, understand and prevent the spread of disease, and help people to gain access to medical care.

Yet, around the world, press freedom is under threat. The non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders recently announced that violence against journalists is leading to increased fear, concluding that “the number of countries regarded as safe, where journalists can work in complete security, continues to decline, while authoritarian regimes continue to tighten their grip on the media.”

This hostility towards reporters takes many forms, including threats, harassment, imprisonment and even murder, as demonstrated by the killing of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate a year ago. While courageous journalists and their editors continue to publish news that challenges the authorities, inevitably the dangers do lead to self-censorship.

Public health can be a particularly sensitive topic, with some governments preferring to control what information is shared. In 2017, journalist Shamael Al-Nur published a column in Sudan’s independent El Tayar newspaper criticising the government’s pitifully low spending on health care and education. As a result, the President’s uncle, who is also the editor of a rival newspaper, denounced her as a “worm”. Others accused her of heresy and blasphemy – which is punishable by death in Sudan – and there were calls for her to be silenced. In the past, whole issues of El Tayar have been confiscated as they came off the press, its editor was beaten unconscious in 2014, and in 2015 it was closed down temporarily by the national security service.

It is not only in developing nations where such reporting can inflame sensitivities. In the USA, Public News Service reporter Dan Heyman was arrested after trying to ask Health Secretary Tom Price a question about how domestic violence would be classified in new health care legislation. He was jailed for “wilful disruption of state government processes” and bailed after paying $5,000. “This is my job, this is what I’m supposed to do,” Dan Heyman said following his release. “I think it’s a question that deserves to be answered. I think it’s my job to ask questions and I think it’s my job to try to get answers.”

“Threats, insults and attacks are now part of the ‘occupational hazards’ for journalists in many countries,” says Reporters Without Borders in its recent summary of the global situation. It is therefore evermore important for us to get together to discuss and inform ourselves about these key topics.

Join us on Thursday 21 November for our talk with Zoe Tabary to hear more about this urgent issue.

Health and Human Rights: An introduction to our 2019/20 events programme

Fri, 26 Jul 2019 08:47:03 GMT

On 19 September, Hull Medical Society will welcome human rights expert Dr James Welsh to present the first in a season of guest lectures on the subject of Health and Human Rights. ( see events )

But what are human rights? Who ensures that governments respect them? And what is the connection with medical care? Here we explain why health is a human rights issue.

Whether you are a refugee in Algeria, giving birth in Beijing or growing up in Guatemala, all human beings are entitled to the highest attainable standard of health.

The right to health is not just a nice idea. There is an international legal obligation on all governments to uphold this basic human right. The authorities in every country have a responsibility, agreed at the United Nations, to provide health care to the best of their available resources and to make efforts to protect against injury and the spread of disease.

This aspiration, which includes both physical and mental health, was agreed by all nations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after the Second World War. In 1966 it became part of international law, and since then most countries have added the right to health to their national laws and/or constitutions.

The right to health is not a right to be healthy. While our governments cannot protect us against illness, accident or disease all of the time, they do have a duty to prevent morbidity and mortality wherever possible and to the best of their ability. This can include things like disease prevention programmes, building hospitals and making health care freely accessible to the most vulnerable. However, the right to health goes beyond being able to access medical care.

In order to be healthy, all humans have a right to access to a range of other goods and services. These include good sanitation, safe and sufficient food and water, healthy housing and working conditions, a healthy environment, access to information about healthy living, and equality between men and women so that both sexes have equal access to these services.

Why, then, are so many poorer countries lacking in the facilities and basic services that keep people in good health? The United Nations recognises that not all countries are starting from the same point; many governments do not have the resources to build state-of-the-art hospitals, or to provide sewers and fresh water pipes for the remotest parts of their countries. Some parts of the world suffer more from certain diseases, from conflict, and from drought, flooding or other geographical and climatic conditions that make it more challenging to provide universal health care, nutrition and other services.

Yes the authorities in all countries must show that they are making every effort to provide these services to the best of their ability, regardless. And richer, more advantaged countries have a legal obligation help them, through funding, technical assistance and co-operation.

Governments also have a responsibility not to cause illness or infirmity, for example by ensuring freedom from torture, slavery and forced medical treatments. These rules apply to all countries, regardless of the resources at their disposal.

Health care services must be available, accessible and acceptable to all people without discrimination. In many countries, disadvantaged groups such as Indigenous people or poor families bear the brunt of ill-health. That shouldn’t be the case. Nobody should be excluded from these things due to their gender, disability, religion, property, political stance, age, origin or ethnicity. In other words, everyone must have the same chance at being healthy. There are even special protections for certain groups of people, including pregnant women, children, migrants, people with disabilities and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Apart from governments, private companies and international organisations like the World Health Organisation and UNICEF also have a responsibility to support this right. If a company pollutes a town’s drinking water supply, it can be held to account and made to pay for the clean-up.

But who ensures that governments keep their side of the bargain? Firstly, medical professionals must uphold codes of ethics that are designed to put the interests of the patient above those of the state. Within most countries, the judicial system can also help to ensure that the state upholds its responsibilities. So if your government decides to stop funding a particular drug that you need, for example, you have the right to challenge the decision and have a legal ruling.

If your country doesn’t have a fair judicial system, or if the ruling goes against you, you have the right to appeal to a regional or international body. In Europe, the European Court of Human Rights may take your case if they believe your government has violated your human right to health. And you can even file a complaint at the United Nations, through various experts and committees that monitor governments’ compliance with human rights, including the right to health.

Finally, there are non-governmental organisations, many of them charities, which support the right to health. Some, like Médicins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), do this by providing health care in regions that have an urgent need, such as in war zones, or in places where governments struggle to meet the needs of the population. Others campaign for the right to health to be upheld, for example by calling on governments to provide health care to marginalised communities.

Hull Medical Society’s season of talks on the subject of Health and Human Rights will delve into these subjects in more detail, looking at the real human stories behind the legal principles. Our six guest lecturers come from organisations including the BBC, Médicins Sans Frontières, Amnesty International and Reuters, and will cover topics as diverse as the fight against Ebola, the role of doctors and journalists in upholding human rights, health care for child refugees, the criminalisation of abortion, and human rights in the former USSR.

Find out more and book your free tickets on our Events page.

Hull Medical Society

Take part in our NHS Got Talent competition

Announcing our STUDENT Art and Poetry Competition for April 2024!

Announcing our NHS Art and Poetry Competition for April 2024!

Events from our partners - HYMS Inaugural lecture Professor Maria Bryant

"From scissors to systems: finding the tools for transformational change" Inaugural lecture, Professor Maria Bryant, Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Hull York Medical School

20 March 2024

Church Lane Lecture Theatre, Church Lane Building, University of York

5.30pm to 6.30pm (followed by a drinks reception)

Report from HYMS student Dernas Suhail

We are delighted to share with you a report from our most recent bursary award winner, HYMS student Dernas Suhail. The Hull Medical Society supported Dernas to attend the World Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery in Singapore this summer.

Below Dernas reports back to the Society on his experience of attending the conference.

A History of Health in Hull - webinar series available to watch online

Watch our new webinar series now

The intreprid Dr Humphry Sandwith

An incredible tale of a Hull-born doctor whose life story reads like a prequel to the Raiders of the Lost Ark...

A History Of Health in Hull

A fascinating look into Hull's History from Rob Bell of The History Troupe

Disease and innovation

This month's post from Rob Bell of The History Troupe explores health, disease and innovation around Hull's docks

June 1911 and safety at work comes to the boil in Hull

With thanks to Rob Bell from The History Troupe for a historic yet topical post on strike action and workers' rights

A word or two on port wine – and the need for food and drink standards

This month we have a fascinating insight into how Hull's own Joseph James Forrester played a part in the development of food and drink safety standards back in the 19th century.

With thanks to Rob Bell from The History Troupe.

Announcing our collaboration with Med Blog podcasts

Don't miss our new podcast series, created in collaboration with St Mary's College in Hull

A shortage of bodies for the Hull School of Medicine and Anatomy

This month Rob Bell from The History Troupe describes the macabre history of grave robbing in 19th century Yorkshire

Dr Frank Cecil Eve (1871-1952) and Artificial Resuscitation

This month we learn about the history of resuscitation and it's links to Hull in the early 20th Century. With thanks to Rob Bell from The History Troupe.

Seven Seas sets sail

Rob Bell from The History Troupe brings us another fascinating insight into Hull's medical and industrial history...

Cast of Characters #3 - Dr Owen Daly (1821-1892)

This month Rob Bell from The History Troupe discusses another local character from Hull's rich medical history...

The Chris Church Medal Annual Undergraduate Prize Essay Competition

This prize is open to any medical student from one of the medical schools in Yorkshire. The winner will be awarded a solid silver engraved medal, and required to deliver a short presentation to a YSA meeting.

﻿ The medal is awarded annually in honour of the late Dr Chris Church, a consultant anaesthetist at Bradford Royal Infirmary whose enthusiasm for undergraduate involvement in anaesthetics was legendary. On his death Dr Church’s family established this award for the YSA.

Report from HYMS Student Rishab Makam

The Impact of Antiarrhythmics on Human Pulmonary Arteries: In Vitro Characterisation

A Polio revolution takes place

This month Rob Bell from The History Troupe discusses a fascinating piece of history from Hull's medical past...

Cast of Characters #2 - Edward Francis Collins

This month Rob Bell from The History Troupe discusses another local character from Hull's rich medical history...

Cast of Characters #1 - Dr John Alderson

Rob Bell joins the Hull Medical Society team

The HMS is delighted to introduce The History Troupe as partners in devising, developing and delivering content on the story of health in Hull through time.

New Hull Medical Society Youtube channel

Check out our new youtube channel

Watch Dr David Unwin's talk online

Highlights from the UPRAS Conference 2019

Discover Hull’s Medical Past in the Society’s Library

“A library is thought in cold storage” – Lord Herbert Samuel

7 Minute Medics!

Hull Medical Society is delighted to announce its sponsorship of the fantastic medical podcast 7 Minute Medics which was created by HYMS graduate Dr Martha Nicholson! Here's what Martha has to say...

Reporters at risk

Continuing the discussion on 'Health and Human Rights' this autumn...

Health and Human Rights: An introduction to our 2019/20 events programme

On 19 September, Hull Medical Society will welcome human rights expert Dr James Welsh to present the first in a season of guest lectures on the subject of Health and Human Rights. ( see events )

"From scissors to systems: finding the tools for transformational change"
Inaugural lecture, Professor Maria Bryant, Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Hull York Medical School

The medal is awarded annually in honour of the late Dr Chris Church, a consultant anaesthetist at Bradford Royal Infirmary whose enthusiasm for undergraduate involvement in anaesthetics was legendary. On his death Dr Church’s family established this award for the YSA.

Hull Medical Society is delighted to announce its sponsorship of the fantastic medical podcast 7 Minute Medics which was created by HYMS graduate Dr Martha Nicholson!
Here's what Martha has to say...