The National Health Service ad the legacies of empire
This two-day international symposium marks the 75th anniversary of the British National Health Service (NHS) by focusing on a neglected theme in the organisation’s history, culture and current medical practices. ‘The NHS and the legacies of empire’ investigates the influence of race, colonialism and migration on different aspects of public health in the UK from 1948 through to the present day.
The National Health Service and the legacies of empire
This two-day international symposium marks the 75th anniversary of the British National Health Service (NHS) by focusing on a neglected theme in the organisation’s history, culture and current medical practices. ‘The NHS and the legacies of empire’ investigates the influence of race, colonialism and migration on different aspects of public health in the UK from 1948 through to the present day.
By showcasing recent scholarly research and community projects this symposium has four main aims: 1) To highlight how the NHS was established and developed during Britain’s transition from Empire to Commonwealth; 2) To understand better the impact of health inequalities on BME communities in the UK; 3) To compare the colonial legacies within the NHS with the modern German public health system; 4) To debate the future of the NHS with BME health policy experts.
The symposium is jointly hosted by the Berliner Medizinhistorische Museum der Charité (Berlin Medical History Museum).
Programm
Thursday 5 October
8.45: Registration
9.00: Welcome & introductions
9.30: 1: Staffing the hospitals
Louise Ryan (London Metropolitan University)
Irish nurses in the NHS
Montaz Marché (University of Birmingham)
An African princess in Guy’s Hospital: the story of Princess Adenrele Ademola
Virinder Kalra (University of Warwick)
Post-NHS melancholia: privatisation and migrant labour in British healthcare
11.00: Kaffeepause
11.30: 2. GPs and community care
Fallon Mody (University of Melbourne)
‘A veritable army of us refugees’: migrant medical labour and legacies of the NHS in post-war Australia
Omar Dewachi (Rutgers University)
Iraqi doctors in Britain
Saima Nasar (University of Bristol)
Patrolling race and the UK’s medical borders
1.00: Mittagessen
2.00: 3: The tropical laboratory
Lioba Hirsch (University of Glasgow) & Rebecca Martin (London School of Hygiene & Tropical medicine)
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colonial histories
Peter D’Sena (University of Hertfordshire)
Colonial medical services and the early years of the NHS
Martin Bricknell (King’s College London)
The armed services and the NHS
3.30: Kaffeepause
4.00: 4. Public health in Germany: comparisons and contrasts
Sarah Ehlers (Deutsches Museum Munich)
The legacy of colonial medicine in Hamburg and Berlin
Lisa Peppler (Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin)
Turkish physicians between health and migration policy in Germany: From ‘doctor’ to ‘Turkish doctor’ in 50 years
Lorraine Frisina Doetter & Gabriela de Carvalho (Universität Bremen)
The health care system: international phenomenon and conceptually moving target
5.30: Keynote lecture
Donna Kinnair (former Chief Executive, Royal College of Nursing)
The NHS at 75. A challenged institution. Still benefiting the health of our nations
6.30: Screening & reception
Exposed
a documentary about Nursing narratives in the time of Covid-19
introduced by Anandi Ramamurthy (Sheffield Hallam University)
Friday 6 October
9.30: 5. Empire and Commonwealth
Barry Doyle (University of Huddersfield)
Imperial and post-imperial healthcare before welfare states
Lynda Bryder (University of Auckland)
Transnational health policy flows between New Zealand and the UK
Ed De Vane (University of Warwick)
Moral leadership in the world?: attempts to export the NHS, 1940s – present
11.00: Kaffeepause
11.30: 6. Health inequalities and race
TBC
Grace Redhead (University of Exeter)
Sickle cell anaemia, medical activism and race in the NHS
Iyiola Solanke (University of Oxford)
Wellbeing and resilience in BAME families and communities
1.00: Mittagessen
2.30: Tour of the Berlin Museum of Medical History
3.30: Keynote lecture
(venue: Berlin Museum of Medical History)
Pascal Grosse (Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin)
‘Race’, medicine, and empire: an Anglo-German dialogue, 1850-1950
4.30: Kaffeepause
5.00: 7. Hidden histories
(venue: Berlin Museum of Medical History)
Trevor Sterling (Mary Seacole Trust)
Establishing Mary Seacole’s legacy in the UK
Venesta Cyril (Windrush Cymru)
Memories of working in the Welsh NHS
Mona Jamil (Migration Museum, London)
Heart of the nation: migration and the making of the NHS
Jak Beula (Nubian Jak Community Trust)
The Windrush memorial at Whittington Hospital
6.00: 8. NHS futures: a roundtable discussion
(venue: Berlin Museum of Medical History)
chaired by Sanjoy Bhattacharya (University of Leeds)
Rosena Allin-Khan MP
Louise Dalingwater (Sorbonne Université, Paris)
Stephani Hatch (King’s College London)
Tamara Hervey (City University London)
Chikwe Ihekweazu (WHO)
Beate Kampmann (Charité Centre for Global Health)
7.00: Reception
tbc
miles.taylor@hu-berlin.de
