Family doctor.

Date:
1946
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Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

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Credit

Family doctor. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

Dramatisation of the work of a general practitioner and his relationship with one family of patients. Includes a sequence where the doctor offers a female patient a cigarette in his surgery whilst they discuss divorce. The film illustrates some of the pressures a family doctor would be under at the time, and highlights that every patient is an individual. The elder GP speaks with some irony about the pressures on his time but his empathy and willingness to help patients reaps dividends in his relationship with the family. This was made two years before the National Health Service was created, and perhaps reflects some of the attitudes toward approaching change in the role of the family doctor. 3 segments.

Publication/Creation

England, 1946.

Physical description

1 encoded moving image (18.30 min.) : sound, black and white

Duration

00:18:30

Copyright note

British Medical Association

Terms of use

Unrestricted
CC-BY-NC
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales

Language note

In English

Creator/production credits

Produced by Everyman Films.

Notes

This film was directed by Richard Massingham (1898 - 1953), who made many public information films for the British Government. He had a career in medicine before he became a filmmaker.

Contents

Segment 1 After the credits, a living room is seen with a GP talking on the phone to a patient, about how his son John has joined his practice. The son listens to the conversation, fiddling with a silver milk jug. The father explains to the son that the patient, who John saw earlier, was worried about his visit. John protests that the daughter simply has measles and that he gave straightfoward advice. The father says that general practice consists of a lot more than straightfoward diagnoses, and that John must get to know his patients well. A montage of John training to be a doctor is shown, with his father talking over the top about how although he learnt many facts, he must now take the time to learn that his patients are real people and try to gain their confidence. Time start: 00:00:00:00 Time end: 00:06:14:02 Length: 00:06:14:02
Segment 2 The older GP talks about one particular relationship he has had with one family. A flashback shows him some years before when he is younger. A man has a car accident and the doctor tends to him in a nearby cottage. The man then marries the woman who lives in the cottage and they have a daughter. The doctor assists with her birth and sees her when she's ill. The doctor then tells the mother that she herself is looking tired and asks her to come to the surgery. Time start: 00:06:14:02 Time end: 00:12:25:06 Length: 00:06:11:04
Segment 3 At the surgery she confesses she drinks twenty cups of tea a day through worry that her husband is having an affair. He proceeds to investigate the reason behind this excessive tea-drinking. She asks the doctor's advice and says she is considering a divorce. The doctor hands her a cigarette and tells her to tackle the problem in a different way, and the couple stay together. The wife's mother then falls ill and the doctor sees her and tells her she has one year left to live. The doctor and the elderly lady become good friends and he often drops in for a cup of tea, always taking milk from the lady's silver milk jug. The elderly lady dies but leaves the doctor her jug. Back in the living room, the father stresses to John the importance of getting to know the patients. The telephone rings and the father is called out to see a patient and asks his son to come along. Time start: 00:12:25:06 Time end: 00:18:30:00 Length: 00:06:04:23

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