Remote & Rural Remedies

"Survey return from William Rendall"

Westray, Orkney.

1851.

RCP/COL/4/8/255

William Rendall was a medical practitioner in Westray.

Westray was a parish in the Orkney Islands. In 1831, the population was 2032. The main industry was agriculture and livestock breeding. There were some quarries on Westray and Papa Westray as well as fisheries.

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[[Addressee]]
W. Rendall Esq.
Surgeon
Westray
Orkney

[[Survey]]
QUERIES

1. How long have you practiced in the locality you at present occupy?

fifteen years

2. What are the ordinary and what the greatest distances which you have to travel in visiting patients?

The ordinary distance is about four miles and the
greatest distance is from twelve to twenty miles

3. What means of conveyance do you employ in going long journeys?

Normally on foot and riding
and the greatest distance by sailing in small boats from one island
to another.

4. What is the state of the roads in your neighbourhood?

The worst state possible as
there are no made roads

5. Is the position of medical men in general in your quarter improved, or otherwise, of late years?

There seems
to be no improvement in the position of medical men
throughout the Islands owing to the poverty of the people
thus preventing the locating of medical men as the
position of the Islands would require. One man
has frequently to attend four Islands when at most
two of the Islands would give sufficient labour.

6. Supposing the people of the Highlands and Islands were generally able to pay for medical
advice, according to rates usually observed in other parts of the kingdom, what extent of
country in your locality would you regard as sufficient to occupy a single practitioner
fully?

One in almost two Islands with a population
between two and three thousand people would give an
able bodied country practitioner as much work as he
could well attend to.

7. Mention, if you please, any special hardships incident to your situation, such as you think
might be remedied by some general measure or enactment?

The extreme poverty of
the people not giving a medical man sufficient
remuneration for his labour altho exposed to the
greatest hardships and dangers in attending to his
professional duties. As yet no share of the Government
grant given to the Poorlaw boards for Scotland has
been obtained owing to the poor law not being in
force here thus [throwing] a burden on the practitioner
in the supplying the wants of the poor which he
finds great difficulty in sustaining.

[[Additional text]]

Island of WestRay Orkney
15th Sept 1851
Signd
Wm Rendall Surgeon