• Print Page
• Email Page to a Friend

On call and Obstetrics

One night in three I would be on call and on most occasions I would be required to attend someone’s house.

Of course my wife had to be on hand to answer the phone and so it was impossible for a GP’s wife to have another job.

Many of the out-of-hours calls would be for me to attend a birth.

Obstetrics was one of the main duties of a GP and it was something I thoroughly enjoyed.

One downside was you could be out at a birth all night and then you would have to go straight into the practice the next day and act as if you’d had a good, full night’s sleep!

A GP would be present at almost every birth and although the district midwives would do most deliveries, if there were any difficulties we would take over.

A maternity ward was opened at Hairmyres in the early 1960s and while that was a great asset it meant GP’s no longer delivered as many babies.

By the 1980s few GPs were involved in obstetrics as they were not attending births regularly enough to keep up to touch and because requirements were becoming tighter.

In addition, most families in East Kilbride did not have more than two children so there were not too many assignments for GPs.

Most deliveries are now done in hospitals, or if it’s a pre-planned home delivery it will be a midwife.

There was also the growing threat of litigations if things went wrong and in obstetrics that can happen.

As a consequence GPs are no longer really involved in delivering babies, which I think is a bit of a shame as it was something I really enjoyed.