Background

The origins of the department in Glasgow lay partly in community medicine and partly in the concerns of the SHHD to develop health centres. Community medicine was represented in Glasgow by the department of epidemiology and preventive medicine based at Ruchill Hospital. Its head, Professor Tom Anderson, was a moving spirit in promoting the concept of a health centre combining clinical care with teaching medicine in the community. As early as 1964, a working party from the west of Scotland faculty of the College of General Practitioners recommended setting up a department of general practice under the chair of medicine.

In 1971, the Woodside Health Centre was opened with accommodation for eight practices covering about 40,000 patients. The records were combined in one office with an open plan reception area, treatment room and facilities for outpatient clinics, physiotherapy and X-rays. The centre also offered community dentistry and a wing for local authority clinics. Including facilities for teaching and research, Woodside paved the way for the development of academic general practice in Glasgow.

In 1972, Hamish Barber was appointed senior lecturer in primary medical care. The post was a joint one between the departments of medicine and of epidemiology and preventive medicine. It was funded by the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust before becoming a university funded post. Barber's task was not easy as he had to work with two heads of departments with different interests: Gordon Stewart, professor of community medicine, and Edward McGirr, professor of medicine.