David Hedley Wilson

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David Hedley Wilson was born in Leeds and educated at Roundhay School, then at the Leeds School of Medicine. After further training in tropical medicine he worked as a missionary surgeon in the Congo for 12 years, firstly in a remote location at Pimu, and then, after further training in the UK at Stanmore’s Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, he was appointed to the IME Teaching Hospital at Kimpese during the chaos of civil war. As well as establishing that orthopaedic unit as a highly regarded centre of excellence, Wilson’s special contribution was the rehabilitation of the victims of post-poliomyelitis disability and spinal cord trauma.

On his return to the UK in 1967, he developed an interest in the work of what was at the time referred to as the casualty department. Twenty years previously, the management of the Leeds General Infirmary, with great foresight, had appointed a consultant to oversee this work, Maurice Ellis, who remained the only consultant in casualty in the country for the next two decades. This appointment had been so successful, however, that when he retired, he was replaced in 1969 by David Wilson, who was able to demonstrate further the benefits of having a dedicated specialist in accident and emergency medicine in charge of these units. David Wilson’s vigorous crusade led over the next two years to 32 district general hospitals following suit.

Thus a new specialty of accident and emergency medicine was born and grew quickly, developing its own training posts, examination, and qualification, followed by its own faculty and academic professorial departments. Wilson represented this emerging speciality on the council in committee of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, from whom he received an honorary fellowship. He was a founding member of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, inaugurated by Princess Anne. In 1986 he was appointed dean of postgraduate medical education in Leeds and was an adviser to the chief medical officer on the training of doctors. He served on the General Medical Council.

He retired in 1991. The following year his wife, Robina, died from cancer. After remarrying he moved to Wales, but he remained active in the local church, and in the affairs of the Baptist Missionary Society. He leaves his second wife and five children from his first marriage. His memoirs are recorded in an autobiography, which he completed before his death.