Belford Hospital, a short history - Dr Brian Tregaskis
Channel: Patrick Byrne
Date: 2019-08-30

Dr Brian Tregaskis, Consultant Gastroenterologist, polymath & medical historian takes us through a short history of the rationale behind why hospitals evolved along the west coast of Scotland. 

In an unflinching look at the history of the Rural General Hospital in Fort William, and the less-than-savoury nature of our benefactor, Brian takes us through the historical precedents that brought the founding of a hospital, the Dewar Report of 1912 into the needs of rural communities, which many now regard as the prelude to the founding of the modern NHS in 1948.

This is not a nostalgic retrospective of the halcyon days of a rural hospital past its prime. No, this is future planning and future-proofing of a service to serve the needs of the local population. We need to be cognisant of history, because it informs the present and future.  As is oft quoted (and attributed to George Santayana) "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it".  Quite so.