RAF Hospital Research Articles

Kenneth Aubrey Stewart

Kenneth Aubrey Stewart (always known as Aubrey) was born in Belfast on 10 August 1925 and died from old age on 6 April 2019, aged 93. He spent his childhood...

Kenneth Leslie George Mills

Kenneth Leslie George Mills (“Ken”) attended the High School of Glasgow and studied medicine at Cambridge University and Westminster Hospital, London. Conscripted into the RAF, he dealt with casualties at...

Nils Albert Regan

Born in Berlin, Nils Albert Regan arrived in London with his family in 1936. He was educated at King’s College School in Wimbledon and Aberdeen University, following his father into...

James Leonard Hine

After completing national service at the RAF Hospital Ely, James Leonard Hine (“Jim”) joined a singlehanded practice in Ely, where he worked for the next 34 years. He was a...

Addendum to “The T-shape spreader – An easily constructed instrument for facilitating the sagittal split osteotomy” [Brit. J. Oral Max. Surg. 51 (2013) 81–82

The authors of this paper recently received correspondence from Captain RC Sanderson, Retired Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, that the T-shape instrument described in our technical note was first demonstrated to him by Air Commodore TW Negus while he was training at The RAF Hospital, Ely in 1988. The Air Commodore may have designed this as well as several other surgical instruments though it was never published. On behalf of the authors, I would like to thank Captain Sanderson for bringing this information to our attention and apologise for this oversight.

Emotional Labour as War Work: women up close and personal with McIndoe's Guinea Pigs

In World War II, at a small RAF hospital in the south of England, plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe carried out groundbreaking surgery on servicemen who had suffered chronically disfiguring facial burns. His regime of treatment and rehabilitation threw out the rule book by encouraging nurses to establish friendships and relationships with the patients. For the nurses this dismantling of the usual boundaries was often difficult to manage. This article examines the nurses' experience and presents a previously undocumented aspect of wartime history which is at odds with public memory.

James Howard Lewis

On qualifying, James Howard Lewis (“Howard”) joined the Royal Air Force. Early postings included Basra and Aden, but for most of the war years, and until independence, he served in...

Philip Arthur Wilkinson

After qualifying, Philip Arthur Wilkinson worked as a house surgeon at Guy’s Hospital and the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary and as senior house surgeon at Harlow Wood before joining the Royal...

Michael Alexander McDonald

Michael grew up in Hertfordshire and attended St Albans School. At Westminster he pursued his love of rowing and was captain of boats. In the Royal Air Force (1955-8) he...

The obstetric course of elderly primigravidae—a review

An increasingly large number of women are now delaying the start of their families until they reach the age of 35 years or older. They are then known as elderly primigravidae in obstetric parlance. This paper reviews recent literature and reports on a retrospective survey conducted by the author of such women at an RAF hospital and presents the findings concerning their ante-natal, intra-partum, post-partum and neonatal outcomes.

The arthroscope in the Services.

The change in the role of the arthroscope in the investigation and treatment of the problems in the knee joint during the period 1977-1985 in one Service hospital was examined and a retrospective study was undertaken of 345 arthroscopies performed in Princess Alexandra RAF Hospital Wroughton in 1984. Three hundred and seventeen of the 345 records were available for study. One hundred and seventy five patients required an operative procedure, 129 arthroscopically and 46 by arthrotomy. These two groups were compared in respect of the length of stay in hospital and the periods taken to return to work and to normal sporting activities. Analysis showed a significant reduction (p less than 0.001) in all 3 periods in the group undergoing arthroscopic surgery when compared with the group undergoing arthrotomy. After 4 months, however, there were no significant differences between the 2 groups. The results in respect of clinical outcome were also assessed. Although not statistically significant, there were fewer post-operative complaints in those undergoing arthroscopic surgery. Analysis of the clinical outcome of 34 patients in whom no detectable pathology was seen at arthroscopy was inconclusive in predicting the final outcome.