Lanarkshire - Hairmyres Hospital
Monklands was the first new hospital (i.e. which did not provide new accommodation for an existing hospital) to be built in Scotland in the post World War II era. During the planning stage, it had been called the Airdrie DGH but was renamed Monklands (the name of the municipal district which was formed by the local government reorganisation in 1973) in 1974 after the opening of its associated College of Nursing. The laboratories opened in December 1976 and the first clinical units were opened in March 1977. The nucleus of the staff for the new laboratories came from the laboratories at Strathclyde Hospital and many new staff moved from Bellshill and Hairmyres Laboratories where, as "Monklands Trainees", they had been appointed during the immediate preceding years. The laboratory at Strathclyde Hospital was closed at the end of 1976.
In 1976 Fred Grimes was appointed as Top Grade and Head of the Biochemistry Department of Bellshill, Hairmyres and Monklands Hospital. Grimes had started his career as an assistant to Arthur I Vogel (1936-39) at Woolwich Technical College at the age of 17 (at sixteen shillings (80p) a week). He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps Pathology from 1939 to 1946) and had been appointed as a Biochemist in South Shields in 1949 and was graded as Senior Biochemist when the NHS gradings were established in 1951. Grimes was one of those present at the Inaugural Meeting of the Association of Clinical Biochemists at the Hammersmith Hospital, London, in March 1953. He was appointed as Principal Biochemist in Southampton in 1953 where he remained until his appointment at Monklands in 1976. He retired in 1982 and died in 1990.
Hilary A Rolton, from the Glasgow Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, was appointed as a Basic Grade Biochemist in 1976 and upgraded to Senior Biochemist in 1979. She was appointed as Senior Biochemist in Stobhill General Hospital in 1984.
Elliott Simpson, who had been a Basic Grade Biochemist in Dundee (1967 to 1975) and a Senior Biochemist at Glasgow Gartnavel General Hospital (1975 to 1977) was appointed as Principal Biochemist in 1977 and as Top Grade Biochemist in 1988. He took on the duties of Head of Department from 1994 until 1997 when he became the Clinical Director for the Laboratories and Pharmacy. Simpson developed an interest in the transient hypokalaemia of acute myocardial infarction, when an unexpectedly high frequency of hypokalaemia was noted in patients in the medical unit. These studies showed that beta-blockers provide a defence against this hypokalaemia, supporting the suggestion that it was related to high circulating levels of catecholamines. During the late 1990s, he developed a work experience programme for upper school pupils who were applying to Medical school. This "future doctor" programme launched a web-site, www.monklandsnextgen.com in 2001. He retired in 2007 and continued to work part-time at Hairmyres Hospital. (ref: 71)
Kenneth JM Cunningham, from Glasgow Western Infirmary, was appointed as Consultant Biochemist in 1982 and died in 2003.
Peter Berry, who had been a Research Assistant (1975 to 1979) and a Basic Grade Biochemist (1979 to 1984) at Glasgow Royal Hospital for Sick Children, was appointed as Senior Biochemist in 1984 and regraded as Principal Biochemist in 1990. He was acting head of department and acting Top Grade from 2003 to 2008.
Janet E Holt (Hogg from 1998), who had been a Grade A Clinical Scientist in Brighton (1991 to 1994), was appointed as Senior Biochemist in 1994 and as Principal Biochemist at the Glasgow Southern General Hospital in 2003.
Vanessa Thurlow, from St George's, London, and Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, provided maternity cover for Janet in 2001.
Shona Twaddle (wife of Ian Godber, Principal Biochemist at Wishaw General from 2002) was appointed as locum consultant from 2003 to 2004.
Gillian Gray who had been a Grade A trainee in Glasgow, was appointed as senior biochemist in 2003.
Colleen M Ross, who was a member of the West of Scotland SpR Rotation, worked at Hairmyres and Monklands from 2004 until she was appointed as consultant at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, in 2006.
Janet Horner (nee McIlroy) was appointed as consultant for Hairmyres and Monklands Hospitals in Lanarkshire in 2006. She had trained in Sheffield, Birmingham and Glasgow in the 1990s and had been appointed as a locum consultant in Stoke Mandeville and John Radcliffe Hospitals in Oxford in 2000 and as consultant in Leeds in 2001.
Ian Godber, Grade A Trainee in Dundee, 1997 - 2000, Senior Biochemist at Nottingham City Hospital, 2000 - 2002, was appointed as Principal Biochemist in 2002 at Wishaw general and and Top Grade at Monklands in 2008.
Lanarkshire - Other Hospital Laboratories
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