1980s

Community and Social Advances in Medicine Research by Professor Roger Blamey and his colleagues in the Academic Department of Surgery results in the introduction of the Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI), a risk prediction model for survival in women with primary breast cancer. It is used in many countries for selecting patients who
should be offered further (adjuvant)
therapies. Research to develop
the NPI continues. 1984

The National Coal Board
announces the closure of 20 coal
mines. The national miners’ strike
follows although many Nottinghamshire pits continue to work. The strike lasts for almost a year.

The combination of closures,
the effects of the strike and tensions between strikers and non strikers
creates a challenge to health
and social services for years
to come. Advances in Medicine
1983


Throughout the 1980s, Professor Tony Mitchell, Foundation Professor of Medicine, and Professors John Hampton and Bob Wilcox conduct major clinical trials of therapy in cardiovascular disease. They are instrumental in reviewing and analysing published data on treatment, and their findings shape practice in the treatment of
myocardial infarction and hypertension. US cruise missiles arrive at the UK base of Greenham Common leading to protests from the Women’s Peace Camp established there two years previously.
In this year Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, research by Professor Leon Polnay leads to a greater understanding of the health and social needs of children.
1982



The Falklands War, 2 April – 20 June. In this year In this year Community and Social Professor Gwyn Roberts takes up the first Chair of Learning Disabilities at The University of Nottingham. He sets about the complicated and overdue task of reshaping clinical services as well as establishing a new department. As well as inspiring several trainees from the area postgraduate psychiatry training scheme to specialise in learning disabilities, he brings to Nottingham a team of academics and clinicians who together become a highly co-operative interdisciplinary group with local, national and international profiles. Advances in Medicine
1988


Professors Dave Evans and Peter Mansfield first show that MRI can be used for non-invasive investigation of gut function. They demonstrate that MRI can assess multiple aspects of digestion simultaneously. In this year Advances in Medicine 1986



The development of shielded gradients in magnetic resonance imaging by Professor Peter Mansfield’s team in the Department of Physics, including Professor Roger Bowley and later Professor Richard Bowtell, leads to faster image acquisition and more versatile MRI scanners.
Margaret Thatcher, elected the previous year in 1979, remained Prime Minister throughout the entire decade until 1990 1980


In this year Advances in Medicine 1985 1981


Mental Health

During the 1980s, Nottingham plays a leading part in developing community mental health services.
Studies of the services show that these not only provide an alternative for people who would otherwise be kept in hospital, but that they can provide an alternative for those who might otherwise be admitted in an acute phase. Results of the research are published in the British Medical Journal in 1989 by Professor Peter Tyrer, Dr Richard Turner and
Dr Tony Johnson. Building on the pioneering work of Sir Peter Mansfield, the first commercially available MRI systems become widely available.
The Royal Wedding: Prince Charles marries Diana Spencer, who becomes the Princess of Wales, 29 July. The first NASA space shuttle, Columbia, is launched and returns safely to Earth, 14 April. The IBM PC (personal computer) is launched, 12 August.
A contemporary sketch, right, shows how community care integrates many different local services, this is in stark contrast to the mental hospital which stands in isolation.

In this year One of these is
Dr Ann Craft who, with Gwyn’s support, later founds NAPSAC, the National Association for the Protection from Sexual Abuse of Adults and
Children with Learning
Disabilities. Vodafone
and Cellnet start provision of mobile phone service in
the UK.

Comic Relief is founded in response to the famine in Ethiopia. It aims to "bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people…” The space shuttle Challenger is destroyed in an explosion seconds after launch, 28 January. An explosion at
the Ukrainian nuclear power plant of Chernobyl, 26 April, leads to global radioactive contamination.
The following year they demonstrate the use of
MRI in studying the effects of drugs on gut function. The picture shows MRI images of the stomach, small intestine and colon. The first criminal conviction in the UK for murder based on evidence from DNA fingerprinting. In this year Advances in Medicine The Nottingham Cochlear Implant Programme is established and provides the first child with a cochlear implant in the UK. 1989


The Berlin Wall falls, 9 November. In this year 1980s His work in the field of community paediatrics informs and influences government policy and includes work on child health surveillance, pre-school services, immunisation practice and the needs of looked after children. His textbooks are highly influential in the teaching of community paediatrics.
Nottingham's Old Market Square in the 1980s 'Pneumatic Theatre'
art on campus in the 1980s Postgraduate students researching child development Cripps Hall, 1987