| Mary Baines |
 Born in 1932, Mary Baines studied medicine at Cambridge University, and undertook clinical training at St Thomas’s Hospital,
where her contemporaries included Cicely Saunders, Tom West and Gillian Ford. After qualification, she married a clergyman
and worked part-time in General Practice for ten years during which she had three children. In 1964, Mary Baines made contact
again with Cicely Saunders following an appeal on the radio for funds for St Christopher’s Hospice. Soon after the opening
of the Hospice, Cicely Saunders asked her to join Albertine Winner and herself on the medical staff. Dr Baines at first declined
the offer, preferring to continue in General Practice. However, she changed her mind, due partly to a religious conviction
that this was the right course and partly due to the scientific challenge of this new area of medicine. In 1969, Mary Baines
was asked by Cicely Saunders to found the first Hospice Home Care Service with Barbara McNulty. This was a completely new
concept and it demanded a great deal of hard work and tact. From the start it was recognised that it was essential to build
a sound scientific foundation for what came to be called Palliative Medicine and Dr Baines contributed to this in many ways.
Her own research was into the medical management of malignant intestinal obstruction. She was also closely involved in the
training of registrars, many of whom have gone on to be leaders in this field. She has a great interest in the developing
world, having lectured at conferences in a large number of countries. Through her overseas contacts she has been able to organise
further education in Palliative Care in the United Kingdom for many doctors and nurses from abroad. She has written extensively,
including chapters in three Oxford Textbooks.
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| Interview conducted by Neil Small, 10 July 1996 |
| Interview Duration: 46 minutes |
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