Parents returned from Jamaica to make me first baby of the NHS
LIFE in the Caribbean may have been idyllic but when Margaret Dunlop was due to give birth, she came home to Scotland to have her babies on the NHS.
It is hardly surprising Margaret entrusted the NHS to deliver her son and daughter as the organisation is her birthday twin.
Baby Margaret – the oldest of six boys and three girls – arrived in the world on the same day as the NHS began.
She said: “I was the first. I think my mum and dad thought, ‘If we’re getting it for nothing we’ll have nine kids’.”
Until the introduction of the NHS, Margaret’s mum Kathleen would have had to pay £50 to have her babies in hospital – the equivalent of £1860 today.
Kathleen was a bookbinder with Collins and her dad, John, was a brickie so there wasn’t much money.
Margaret said: “They were living in Townhead, Glasgow, and money was very tight but my mother’s family were close by and helped out.
“We were living in a room and kitchen and there were five children by that time. The rest were born when we moved to Castlemilk.”
Margaret’s young brother had severe epilepsy and there was a lack of support in those days for people like him and his parents. He died, aged 39.
Another brother was overmedicated after a stroke and died, aged 52. And her dad’s bowel was burst by a failed catheterisation procedure.
Margaret Boyle was 21 when she wed John Dunlop, then emigrated to Jamaica when he landed a job in the sugar industry. She got pregnant but wanted to have the baby in Glasgow’s Rottenrow Hospital.
She said: “We thought we were going to have to pay but John was still paying his stamp so we got it for nothing. It made me appreciate our NHS.”
Baby Paul had medical problems but was treated swiftly and had no ongoing health issues.
When Margaret was pregnant with his little sister, Jacqueline, she returned again for the birth.
The couple stayed in Jamaica for four years then moved to Trinidad and Tobago.
When the family eventually returned to Scotland, Margaret began work as a carer but slipped a disc and ended up in hospital.
Around that time, her dad was receiving end-of-life care in a hospice for prostate and bone cancer.
Margaret believes the NHS could be improved by bringing back matrons.
She said: “It’s not as personal as it used to be. You felt you were getting looked after then but now it’s all about how the hospital runs. The old matrons were a bit of authority.”
But she added: “I still think the NHS is wonderful.”
