York Peptic Ulcer Research Trust Archive

Records of the York Peptic Ulcer Research Trust, comprising Gastro Follow Up Clinic patient records, 1940s-1990s; dietary surveys of peptic ulcer patients, 1960s; Airedale and York Duodenal Ulcer Study patient records, c.1979-1988; papers concerning the foundation and history of the Trust, 1990-c.2010; correspondence, 2000-2003; 2 digital compact discs containing digitised copies of patient records.

The York Peptic Ulcer Research Trust (YPURT) is a medical research charity. It was founded in York in 1952 to continue the research of surgeon Arthur Hedley Clarence Visick into gastrectomies as treatment for peptic ulcers. Visick had been a surgeon at York County Hospital from 1928, where he had pioneered an eponymous grading system for describing functional outcome after gastrointestinal surgeries. Starting in 1942, he used this system in regular Gastric Follow Up Clinics where patients he had performed surgery on for peptic ulcers would be reviewed every six months by a semi-independent panel comprised of Visick, Dr C. N. Pulvertaft and Dr David Cameron, and given a ‘Visick’ grading, according to their post-operative symptoms.
Visick died prematurely in 1949 but the clinic continued to operate, and to register new patients, under the supervision of Dr Pulvertaft, who was the clinic Director, Jack Willson Pepper, Harold Conyers and Robert Hall. In 1971 Pulvertaft was succeeded by J. C. Goligher as Director. The foundation of YPURT in 1952 set the clinic, and its work, on a more official footing, making it possible for its members to seek external funding. Donors have included the Medical Research Council, the Joseph Rowntree Social Services Trust (now the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust), and the Department of Health’s allocation for locally organised clinical research projects.
Over the years the work of the clinic and the Trust has expanded. By the 1990s the clinic had registered over 4,500 cases of surgical treatment for peptic ulcers, following the progress of some patients for over forty years. Alongside the Gastric Follow Up Clinics, the Trust also participated in the Leeds/York trials into elective surgery for duodenal ulcers in the 1950s and undertook a detailed survey of the diets of ulcer patients in the 1960s. In the 1970s the Trust participated in the York/Airedale Duodenal Ulcer Study.
From the late 1970s new medical advances, in particular the use of the drug cimetidine from 1976 and the discovery of the role of Helicobacter pylori in the 1980s, meant that surgery was less commonly used to treat peptic ulcers and as a result registrations of post-operative cases in the Gastro Follow-Up Clinics began to decline. Robert Hall retired in 1998 and the decision was made to close new clinic registrations from that year. In 2010 the trustees wound up the charity and transferred its assets to the protected research funds administered by the York NHS Hospital Trust.

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation, including data protection laws. Many of these records contain sensitive personal and confidential information which is likely to be restricted under data protection legislation and the terms of deposit. For records less than 100 years old, please contact the Borthwick Institute via email or letter.

The archive was deposited at the Borthwick Institute in 2004. Further additions were made to the archive in 2007.

The York Peptic Ulcer Research Trust (YPURT) is a medical research charity. It was founded in York in 1952 to continue the research of surgeon Arthur Hedley Clarence Visick into gastrectomies as treatment for peptic ulcers. Visick had been a surgeon at York County Hospital from 1928, where he had pioneered an eponymous grading system for describing functional outcome after gastrointestinal surgeries. Starting in 1942, he used this system in regular Gastric Follow Up Clinics where patients he had performed surgery on for peptic ulcers would be reviewed every six months by a semi-independent panel comprised of Visick, Dr C. N. Pulvertaft and Dr David Cameron, and given a ‘Visick’ grading, according to their post-operative symptoms.
Visick died prematurely in 1949 but the clinic continued to operate, and to register new patients, under the supervision of Dr Pulvertaft, who was the clinic Director, Jack Willson Pepper, Harold Conyers and Robert Hall. In 1971 Pulvertaft was succeeded by J. C. Goligher as Director. The foundation of YPURT in 1952 set the clinic, and its work, on a more official footing, making it possible for its members to seek external funding. Donors have included the Medical Research Council, the Joseph Rowntree Social Services Trust (now the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust), and the Department of Health’s allocation for locally organised clinical research projects.
Over the years the work of the clinic and the Trust has expanded. By the 1990s the clinic had registered over 4,500 cases of surgical treatment for peptic ulcers, following the progress of some patients for over forty years. Alongside the Gastric Follow Up Clinics, the Trust also participated in the Leeds/York trials into elective surgery for duodenal ulcers in the 1950s and undertook a detailed survey of the diets of ulcer patients in the 1960s. In the 1970s the Trust participated in the York/Airedale Duodenal Ulcer Study.
From the late 1970s new medical advances, in particular the use of the drug cimetidine from 1976 and the discovery of the role of Helicobacter pylori in the 1980s, meant that surgery was less commonly used to treat peptic ulcers and as a result registrations of post-operative cases in the Gastro Follow-Up Clinics began to decline. Robert Hall retired in 1998 and the decision was made to close new clinic registrations from that year. In 2010 the trustees wound up the charity and transferred its assets to the protected research funds administered by the York NHS Hospital Trust.

The archive has not yet been catalogued, please contact the Borthwick Institute for further information.

Includes two digital compact discs. Access to digital material may be restricted due to technical requirements, please contact the Borthwick Institute for more information.

Created by S. A. Shearn, 20.03.17.

A reprographics service is available to researchers subject to the access restrictions outlined above. Copying will not be undertaken if there is any risk of damage to the document. Copies are supplied in accordance with the Borthwick Institute for Archives' terms and conditions for the supply of copies, and under provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce images of documents in the custody of the Borthwick Institute must be sought.

Further accruals are not expected.

The papers of Jack Kenneth Willson-Pepper (Reference: JWIL) and the records of York County Hospital (Reference: NHS/YCH) are also deposited at the Borthwick Institute.

Published

GB193