Dr Ruth Hutchinson
Personal Details
Dr Ruth Hutchinson BA MBBChir FFARCS DObs DA
23/08/1928 to 05/02/2020
Place of birth: Barrow in Furness, Lancashire (then)
Nationality: British
CRN: 505316
Education and qualifications
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General education |
Murrayfield School, Heswall, The Wirral, Cheshire; St Leonards School, St Andrews, Fife; Newnham College, Cambridge (captain, university lacrosse club); St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School |
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Primary medical qualification(s) |
MBBChir, Cambridge, 1953 |
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Initial Fellowship and type |
FFARCS by Examination |
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Year of Fellowship |
1960 |
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Other qualification(s) |
BA, Cambridge, 1950; DObs, RCOG, 1956; DA(RCP&S), 1956 |
Professional life and career
Postgraduate career
After qualification, Ruth was house surgeon in Bournemouth, house physician, North Middlesex Hospital, and SHO in Obstetrics & Gynaecology in Winchester before starting anaesthetic training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital (house officer, 1955-6; SHO, 1956-7). She then spent a year in the USA, on the junior staff of the University Hospital of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia before returning to the UK as a registrar in Cardiff. From 1961 she was SR at St Thomas’s Hospital before being appointed a consultant in Poole/Bournemouth in 1964. In 1980 she decided on a career change, and moved to Zimbabwe (where she had relatives) as consultant at Parirenyata & Harare Hospitals, retiring in 2003.
Professional interests and activities
Early career interests were awareness during anaesthesia (publishing from Cardiff the first study of its incidence – BJA 1961; 33: 463-9) and the amelioration of suxamethonium ‘pains’ with gallamine. A conscientious, competent and well liked consultant colleague, she is recalled (by Dr Bob Frew) as teaching ‘proper’ pre-operative assessment. On arrival in Harare she found the anaesthetic department in some disarray, but quickly sorted the many problems and improved training, sending many colleagues to Poole for this, On the wider front, she was president of the Zimbabwe Anaesthetic Association (1988-92) and organised/chaired the first ‘all Africa’ anaesthetic congress in Harare in 1997. In recognition of her services to Africa she received the AAGBI’s Pask award (1991) and honorary membership (2004).
Other biographical information
Her father, a flour miller in Barrow, died when she was five, and the family moved to The Wirral in Cheshire where she grew up. After retiring she returned to the UK to live on Hayling Island where her activities included playing the clarinet, golf, tennis, kalking, bridge and concert attendance.
Author and sources
Authors:
Drs Robert Palmer & Michael Skivington
Sources and Comments:
[1] Personal communication with the subject
[2] Additional information from Drs Bob Frew & Alistair McKenzie [3] Archives of Newnham College, Cambridge.