Practice History

Anniesland Medical Practice was established at the inception of the National Health Service in 1947 by Drs Robert Black and Daniel McFarlane. They were soon joined by Dr William Blair.
 
Until the early 1960s the Practice was based in shop front premises in Great Western Road with woefully inadequate space and facilities but which was entirely typical of early NHS General Practice. A transformation was achieved with the purchase of two adjacent ground floor tenement flats at 778 Crow Road. With this move the Practice came to occupy premises which were the envy of other GPs. There was an office, a waiting room, each doctor had his own consulting room and there was even accommodation remaining where the receptionist lived in a two room flat.
 
Work in Practice expanded rapidly, the patient list grew and soon the partnership grew, joined early on by Dr JM Hamilton and then by Dr Donald McFarlane, son of Dr Daniel.
 
Anniesland Medical Practice ( at that time called “The Crow Road Surgery”) was, and is, an innovative, forward thinking Practice. They were among the first in Glasgow to have an attached Health Visitor and District Nurse. Dr Blair was the first to offer medical students a chance to experience work outside hospital and he was an early Trainer of GPs.
 
Dr Black was succeeded by Dr Sheila Martin (women in Practice were few and far between at that time), and Dr McFarlane Sr by Dr David Lyon who was, on emigration to Australia, replaced in 1974 by Dr David Blair, son of Dr William, who, in turn, on his retiral was succeeded by Dr Alastair Short. Alastair was a notable figure in GP education in Scotland whose life was tragically cut short when he was killed in a fall on Mont Blanc in 2003. In the meantime Dr Marise McQueen had followed Dr Hamilton.
 
Further expansion of the Practice led to the addition of Dr Jane Campbell with Dr Helen Irvine succeeding Dr McFarlane and Dr Jennifer Leitch replacing  Dr McQueen. In Dr Short’s place came Dr Barrie Gibson-Smith.
 
The next major Practice event came in October 2003 when it finally burst out of, by now completely inadequate premises in Crow Road to its present modern, designed for purpose building in Munro Place. There is room here for the large team of Doctors, Practice Nurses, Community Nurse, Health Visitors and Administrative staff, the space allowing for efficient functioning under the guidance of the Manager, Lesley Cameron.
 
The Practice continues to be innovative, being one of the pioneers in computerization and more recently one of the first to be “paperless”. It continues to be involved in GP training, each year taking on a GP Registrar who is completing there training in the specialty. Undergraduate medical students are taught as are doctors returning to practice after some time out and doctors wishing to maintain their skills in part-time practice.