Audlem History Society Review

On Thursday evening, Audlem History Society hosted the last talk of the season entitled

“The Shropshire Orthopaedic Scheme and the modernisation of healthcare in the UK, 1900-1948”.

This was given by Dr. Simon Carr who travelled especially from Strathclyde for the occasion.

Simon’s talk gave a unique slant on the development of the NHS and its attitude to healthcare by illustrating how much influence the ideas and practice of Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt had over the first half of the twentieth century.

The Orthopaedic Hospital at Oswestry was at the centre of a pioneering and extensive network of preventative and aftercare clinics which radiated across 8 counties, 3 in England and 5 in Wales, and this was the future model adopted eventually by the NHS.

Simon explained how Robert Jones was greatly influenced by his uncle, Hugh Thomas, who began the principle of rest and fresh-air treatment for physically-disabled children in the late nineteenth century, really a precursor of holistic medicine.

Robert Jones became a highly respected surgeon, starting in Liverpool, and was very prominent in the First World War, setting up many military hospitals for orthopaedic patients. Agnes Hunt meanwhile, who was born with a disability herself, became a much-respected orthopaedic nurse, and met Robert Jones in 1903. They collaborated on developing the new ideas and treatments together, as Agnes in particular was very good at lobbying for support for funding, and for bullying the authorities!

Simon gave us a very comprehensive and detailed picture of the history of this pioneering work, which changed the old attitudes towards treatment and healthcare as a whole, and his audience came away from the evening with much food for thought.

Our next season begins in September with a new programme of talks starting on Thursday 17th.