John Henry Rolland Ramsay
BMJ 2005; 330 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.330.7482.98-c (Published 06 January 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;330:98
Data supplement
John Henry Rolland Ramsay
Consultant chest physician Sunderland Hospitals 1966-87, and founder and first medical director St Benedict’s Hospice, Sunderland (b Glasgow 1922; q Glasgow 1946; OBE, FRFPS, FRCP Glas), died from a myocardial infarction on 21 July 2004 at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.Rolland Ramsay was born and brought up in Glasgow, attending both the Glasgow Academy and University Medical School. He became a consultant chest physician in Sunderland in 1966, working in all of the city’s hospitals over the following 21 years, and was president of the North of England Thoracic Society from 1985 to 1987.
Nursing his terminally ill sister at home and noticing the needs of his own lung cancer patients, he realised the need for NHS-provided palliative care. In 1978 he and a colleague, Dr Leslie Feinman, began campaigning for an NHS hospice in Sunderland. Their vision was realised in 1984 with the founding of St Benedict’s Hospice (one of the first hospices funded solely by the NHS), of which he was the first medical director. A perpetual and consummate physician, he continued his "duty of care" beyond retirement by becoming the chairman of the Sunderland branch of Macmillan Cancer Relief, a post he held successfully for over 10 years. Admired and respected within the local community in Sunderland, his work for cancer sufferers was recognised in 2001 when he received an OBE from Her Majesty the Queen.
A dedicated and loving husband and father, he nursed his wife, Yvonne, through many years with motor neurone disease until her death in 1989. In 2002 failing health precipitated a move to Norwich to be nearer his son’s family. He is greatly missed by all who knew and loved him, particularly his children, Wendy and Crichton (also a chest physician), and four grandchildren. [Crichton Ramsay, Wendy Seed]