Migrant Architects of the NHS: South Asian Doctors and the Reinvention of British General Practice (1940s-1980s)

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Migrant architects of the NHS draws on forty-five oral history interviews and extensive archival research to offer a radical reappraisal of how the National Health Service was made. It tells the story of migrant South Asian doctors who became general practitioners in the NHS. Imperial legacies, professional discrimination and an exodus of UK-trained doctors combined to direct these doctors towards work as GPs in some of the most deprived parts of the UK. In some areas, they made up over half of the general practitioner workforce. The NHS was structurally dependent on them and they shaped British society and medicine through their agency. Aimed at students and academics with interests in the history of immigration, immigration studies, the history of medicine, South Asian studies and oral history. It will also be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about how Empire and migration have contributed to making Britain what it is today. -- .

Reviews

Easy to follow and highly recommended, Julian Simpsons book provides a clear and comprehensive account of this suddenly very topical slice of history, and does exactly what he set out to do writes migrants back into the history of the NHS.
Anjna Harrar, British Journal of General Practice, August 2018

The detailed individual narratives, and the authors meticulous historical and political analysis, offer a model for making sense of medical migration.
John Launer, Postgraduate Medical Journal

Simpson has previously stated his desire to write migrant doctors back into the history of the NHS, claiming that British medical historians (unlike those in North America) have been much less attuned to the role of immigration in shaping contemporary society. He has certainly achieved that goal. This is the first full-length scholarly book to examine the contribution of migrant doctors to the NHS and, as such, constitutes an importance reconsideration of post-war British health services. [] the book does succeed marvellously in denationalising the NHS, by looking at health care and medical practice through a transnational lens. As such, it paves the way for other important studies of health care diasporas in Britain.
David Wright, McGill University, Social History of Medicine, Volume 32 Issue 1, February 2019

Simpson has previously stated his desire to write migrant doctors back into the history of the NHS, claiming that British medical historians (unlike those in North America) have been much less attuned to the role of immigration in shaping contemporary society. He has certainly achieved that goal. This is the first full-length scholarly book to examine the contribution of migrant doctors to the NHS and, as such, constitutes an importance reconsideration of post-war British health services. [] the book does succeed marvellously in denationalising the NHS, by looking at health care and medical practice through a transnational lens. As such, it paves the way for other important studies of health care diasporas in Britain.
David Wright, McGill University, Social History of Medicine, Volume 32 Issue 1, February 2019

'Migrant Architects of the NHS will have significant interest for historians of post-war Britain. It merits a wide readership and will undoubtedly be a valued addition to reading lists for students and researchers alike.'
Martin Moore, University of Exeter, Contemporary British History, May 2019

Author Bio

Julian M. Simpson is an independent writer, researcher and translator