Interview

“Politics is medicine on a larger stage”

Dr Jean Turner, who describes herself as politically left of centre, is standing as an independent candidate in the Scottish Parliament elections in May after a distinguished career in medicine. She is one of a growing number of doctors entering the political arena. David Player met her

Jean Turner thought she was going to die when she was mugged by a gang of youths during a house call in Springburn, Glasgow, in the 1980s. Her patient lived in a block of flats with no lighting in the stairwell and graffiti on the walls.

Springburn’s health statistics are among the worst in Glasgow, which itself has the worst health record in Western Europe. Despite her terrifying experience, Dr Turner continued her work. She says: ‘The people were good people at heart and needed all the help and care they could get.’

Towards the end of her career, Dr Turner became increasingly concerned about developments in the NHS: the creeping privatisation of the private finance initiative; continual reorganisation; the closure of smaller hospitals; and the reduction in services at five of Glasgow’s acute hospitals. Two of them, Stobhill Hospital and the Victoria Infirmary, are to become ‘ambulatory care and diagnostic centres’.Angered by the way the Scottish Executive and NHS managers ignored grassroots protests and petitions, Dr Turner became active in local action, particularly in attempts to save Stobhill Hospital.

She stood as an independent candidate in the 2001 by-election for Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency, halving the majority of the New Labour candidate and coming second – ahead of candidates from the Scottish National Party, Scottish Liberal Democratic Party and Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.

She is a close ally of Dr Richard Taylor, the new MP for Wyre Forest and a member of the NHS Consultants Association. Dr Taylor, a retired consultant, swept into Westminster in the 2001 general election, crushing the sitting Labour MP David Lock. Dr Taylor’s political activism was triggered by the threatened run-down of his local Kidderminster Hospital and led to the formation of a new political party, Health Concern.

The Scottish parliamentary election – and the English local government elections – are witnessing a phenomenon known as the ‘Kidderminster effect’. Dr Turner attended a large conference in Kidderminster in February called by, among others, Dr Taylor and former journalist turned temporary MP Martin Bell, that attracted like-minded activists hoping to stand as independents in the English local and Scottish parliamentary elections. In addition to Dr Turner, independent candidates in Scotland are standing for East Fife, West Fife and probably also in the south of Glasgow.

These single-issue candidates are all focused on defending the NHS from what they see as the government’s inability or unwillingness to listen to local views. The dismantling of community health councils in England could be seen as another symptom of this. Their replacements, patient forums, will not be functional for months after CHCs have been disbanded, and their ability to represent patients has been seriously questioned.

It was Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902), a German doctor, anthropologist and statesman, who said: ‘Politics is but medicine on a larger stage.’ He helped found the liberal Progress Party and opposed Bismarck to such an extent that the German prime minister challenged him to a duel. As a member of a Berlin constituency, he served in the Reichstag and was largely responsible for constructing the Berlin sewage system, surface drainage system and water supply in the 1890s.

Perhaps, like Virchow, these new independent health politicians will form the vanguard of a progressive political movement based on sound principles of caring and public health.