Hospital discovers forgotten history of past medics

Dr Jean Robson joined the Royal Surrey Hospital in 1978

A project at the Royal Surrey County Hospital has discovered the forgotten history of former medics.

Junior doctors started researching the biographies of doctors whose portraits hang on their department’s walls, yet nobody could remember who they were.

They discovered war heroes, pioneers and one of the first female consultants to serve in the hospital.

Dr George Chater said: "I've been all over the place doing the research, including national and medical archives. I've been down a bit of a rabbit hole."

He added: "There is a corridor where there are series of portraits hung by a colleague with dates and names but no stories.

"I attended a graduation and a speaker said they did something similar to this at their trust so I thought if they could do it, I could!"

Dr Jean Robson, who joined the Royal Surrey Hospital in 1978, is one of the subjects of the pictures.

During her career, she has been the chairperson of the division of Anaesthesia as well as the chairperson of the Operating Department Practitioner school.

Despite being a recent member of staff, Dr Chater said that she was "easy yet also difficult" to research and find out about.

He said the hospital is launching a website so people can look at the photos and read the biographies, as well as contribute.

Dr Geeta Aggarwal, joint chief of service for surgery at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, added: "Royal Surrey has a proud history of innovation within surgery, so this is a great piece of work recognising and remembering the colleagues who laid the foundations for our outstanding services.”