Jean Turner

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Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Jean McGivern Turner (born 23 December 1939) is a Scottish medical doctor and former Independent politician. She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency from 2003 until 2007.

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 in 1965.Template:Citation needed

Career

Medical career

After qualifying as a doctor, she worked as an anaesthetist registrar at the Southern General Hospital,<ref name="KH 1Aug2007">Template:Cite news</ref> then for 25 years as a general practitioner in the Springburn area in Glasgow.<ref name="Herald 7Jun2001">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="BBC 8Jun2001">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In August 2007, she was appointed as chief executive of the Scotland Patients Association.<ref name="KH 1Aug2007"/>

Political career

In 2001, a range of services at Stobhill Hospital were under threat and a "Save Stobhill" campaign had emerged. In March 2001 the constituency MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Sam Galbraith 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At the age of 61, having recently retired as a general practitioner, Turner entered the by-election as the independent "Save Stobhill" candidate.<ref name="Herald 7Jun2001"/> In that race, she finished second with 7,572 votes or 18%.<ref name="BBC 8Jun2001"/> She also campaigned against Labour's treatment of the NHS.Template:Citation needed

In October 2002, she confirmed that she would stand as candidate at the elections the following year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the 2003 Scottish parliamentary elections, she stood again in Strathkelvin and Bearsden on the same platform she used in 2001.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This time, Turner won the seat with 10,988 votes or 31%.<ref name="news">Template:Cite news</ref> She finished ahead of Labour's Brian Fitzpatrick, who was previously head of policy in Donald Dewar's policy unit.<ref name="Scotsman 2May2003">Template:Cite news</ref>

She sat on the Health Committee during her time as a MSP.<ref name="session2">Template:Cite web</ref>

In February 2007, Turner announced she would stand for re-election at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but lost her seat to the Labour candidate, David Whitton.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

Other doctors elected on similar platforms:

References

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