Teviot Place now:— The Edinburgh Medical School in 1978

Abstract

In the history of every Medical School there are periods of calm and times of intense activity. Some of the medical teachers in Edinburgh have already experienced three very active phases. First there was 1939 when there occurred the trauma and disruption of World War II. Seven years later came the immediate post-war period, when new members of staff were being recruited, former teachers were returning, and the intake included a large number of 'mature' students. The third peak of activity, which overlapped with the second, was in 1948 when the National Health Service was introduced and the teachers in general found themselves becoming employees either of the University or the N.H.S., not always being allotted to the employer of their own choice. Some would say that a fourth time of unusual activity was in 1963 when a new curriculum was introduced.