Jean McGivern Turner (born 23 December 1939) is a Scottish medical doctor and former

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

politician. She was the

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The ad ...

(MSP) for the Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency from

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until

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Early life and education

Turner was born in Glagow on 23 December 1939. She attended Hillhead High School before going on to study medicine at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with an

MBChB Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

in 1965.

Career

Medical career

After qualifying as a doctor, she worked as an

anaesthetist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

registrar at the

Southern General Hospital The Southern General Hospital (SGH) was a large teaching hospital with an acute operational bed complement of approximately 900 beds. The hospital was located in Linthouse in the south west of Glasgow, Scotland. All facilities and services have b ...

, then for 25 years as a general practitioner in the

Springburn Springburn ( gd, Allt an Fhuairainn) is an inner-city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, made up of generally working-class households. Springburn developed from a rural hamlet at the beginning of the 19th century. Its indu ...

area in Glasgow. In August 2007, she was appointed as chief executive of the Scotland Patients Association.

Political career

In 2001, a range of services at

Stobhill Hospital Stobhill Hospital is an Ambulatory Care and Diagnostic Hospital, located in Springburn in the north of Glasgow, Scotland. It serves the population of North Glasgow and part of East Dunbartonshire. It is managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. ...

were under threat and a "Save Stobhill" campaign had emerged. In March 2001 the constituency MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden,

Sam Galbraith Samuel Laird Galbraith (18 October 1945 – 18 August 2014) was a Scottish politician and neurosurgeon who served as Minister for Environment, Sport and Culture from 2000 to 2001 and Minister for Children and Education from 1999 to 2000. Galbra ...

announced his resignation for health reasons, triggering a in the Strathkelvin and Bearsden Holyrood by-election of 2001. By April 44,000 had signed a petition. At the age of 61, having recently retired as a general practitioner, Turner entered the by-election as the independent "Save Stobhill" candidate. In that race, she finished second with 7,572 votes or 18%. She also campaigned against Labour's treatment of the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. In October 2002, she confirmed that she would stand as candidate at the elections the following year. In the 2003 Scottish parliamentary elections, she stood again in Strathkelvin and Bearsden on the same platform she used in 2001. This time, Turner won the seat with 10,988 votes or 31%. She finished ahead of Labour's Brian Fitzpatrick, who was previously head of policy in Donald Dewar's policy unit. She sat on the Health Committee during her time as a MSP. In February 2007, Turner announced she would stand for re-election at the

2007 Scottish Parliament election The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. Local elections in Scotland fe ...

, but lost her seat to the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate,

David Whitton David Whitton (born 22 April 1952) is a Scottish journalist, Labour Party politician and former Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP). He was elected to the Scottish Parliament for Strathkelvin and Bearsden in 2007, defeating the incumbent I ...

References

External links