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First woman to give birth at a London NHS hospital tells her story
Anna Davis, Evening Standard04.07.08
The first woman to give birth in a London NHS hospital today spoke out about her experience to mark the 60th anniversary of the health service.
Joan Hanks, 84, will celebrate her daughter Carol Browning's 60th birthday tomorrow and raise a glass to the service that cared for her during the birth.
Carol was born at 12.02 on 5 July 1948 to the sounds of doctors at St Mary's hospital in Paddington celebrating the founding of the NHS.
Mrs Hanks said: "At midnight I was giving birth and there was a party with all the students and doctors. I could hear them running up and down the iron steps at the back of the building celebrating."
Mrs Hanks, who was living in Queens Park when her daughter was born, had to travel to hospital on the bus. She said: "I remember getting a bus to Warwick Avenue and then a Tube to Praed Street and then walking to St Mary's.
"I arrived at 10pm and we must have gone to the wrong entrance because I remember a porter with a candle walking me and my husband round to the ward - I always remember the candle.
"There were other women in there and we were very well cared for. I remember one woman had a boy at about 12.30 but I was the first - Carol was born at two minutes past midnight."
Mrs Hanks was given £8 by the Government to celebrate the birth. She added: "That was a fortune in those days. To be honest we didn't take much notice of talk about the NHS starting, but now I think it is a great thing."
Her daughter Carol, who now lives in Suffolk near her mother and father, Albert, 87, said: "I think the NHS is brilliant and had both of my two children on it as well.
"I am quite proud to be one of the first babies born on the NHS - when I see news about the anniversary celebrations on the TV I feel quite famous."
Mrs Browning, who has a brother who is 63, also credits the NHS with saving her life.
When she was three years old she was admitted back to St Mary's with pneumonia. She said: "I was very ill and had to stay in hospital for 10 days. In those days my parents weren't allowed to visit and if you didn't eat your vegetables you were stuck in the bathroom. I'm sure it's much better now."
The first baby in Britain to be born under the NHS was Aneira Thomas who entered the world at 12.01 at Amman Valley Hospital, Carmarthenshire.
She was named after the founder of the NHS, Aneurin Bevan.
This weekend will see a raft of celebrations across the capital's hospitals to mark the 60th anniversary.
King's College Hospital will hold an open day on Sunday where members of the public can visit 40 different departments including an operating theatre and X-ray department while Queen Mary's hospital in Sidcup will have a pitch at the Danson Festival in Bexley.
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