Early in her career Douglas worked as a house physician at Glasgow Royal Maternity and Women's Hospital and house surgeon at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. She also held a local authoritypublic health position in Bradford. On 23 March 1926, at the age of 31, Douglas was appointed Medical Officer to the Scottish Board of Health as an advisor on maternity and whild Welfare, a position that she went on to hold for over 30 years. In the 1920s and 1930s, there was concern regarding the high and rising maternal mortality rates, and Douglas made a significant contribution to their reduction. As a Medical Officer, she monitored maternity services and child welfare in Scotland, making reports to the Chief Medical Officer, which contributed to an improvement in maternity services and provision. In 1935, she and her colleague Dr Peter L. McKinlay published the Report on Maternal Mortality and Morbidity in Scotland, a comprehensive investigation into maternal death in Scotland. The report found that 60% of all deaths attributed to childbirth were regarded as avoidable caused by inadequate or intrusive medical care and a lack of medical support. The recommendations from the Douglas and McKinlay's report ultimately lead to the Maternity Services Scotland Act after they were endorsed in the Scottish Health Services Committee Report of 1936, a report on Scotland's health services which informed the development of the Scottish National Health Service. The Act required that any women could make application for the joint services of a physician and midwife throughout her pregnancy, labour, and the post-natal period, with the advice or help of an expert obstetrician. As a result, there was a 1,000% increase in the number of hospital beds available to pregnant women, increasing from 300 in 1926 to 3,000 in 1948. A drop in maternal mortality was recorded from 4.8 per 1,000 births in 1937 to 3.0 per 1,000 births in 1944. Douglas was a member of both the Lothian Division of the British Medical Association and the Medical Women's Federation, and a Fellow of the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society. She was president of the Lothian Branch of the Royal College of Midwives and chair and vice-chair of the Scottish Council for Single Parents.
Personal life
Outside her professional work, Douglas was a keen sportswoman with an interest in ice-skating, skiing and golf. She was an international ice-skating judge and ran an ice-skating club in Edinburgh. Douglas died on 27 August 1979 in Perth, Scotland.
Awards and honours
Douglas received an OBE for her services to the medical profession.
