Dr Ralston attended to Michelle Connor when she was taken to Weatherfield General in the twenty-third week of her pregnancy in January 2017 after suffering pains in her abdomen. After some checks, Michelle was kept in overnight for observation but the next day her waters broke and the doctor told her and the father Steve McDonald that the labour could not be stopped, even though the child was underdeveloped. The parents were devastated to be told that it was the hospital's policy not to intervene if the baby couldn't breathe of his own accord as he had not reached the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy and the doctor's attitude made it clear that she had little expectation that the infant would survive. As the labour continued, Steve objected to the doctor keeping Michelle on the maternity ward where his wife could hear the cries of other healthy babies but was sympathetically told that she was in the best place for the treatment that she needed. The doctor assisted at the birth, where baby Ruairi McDonald was indeed born lifeless.
The next day, the doctor asked Steve how he and his wife were coping but had to break more bad news when she explained that birth and death certificates would not be issued as the baby had been born too early. She offered to explain this bureaucratic block to Michelle but it was Steve who passed the information on to her that no record of their son's life would ever be officially made.
In May 2018, a heavily pregnant Nicola Rubinstein fell down the stairs of 11 Coronation Street and was rushed to the General as her labour had begun. Midwife Judith Roberts saw some signs on the monitoring equipment that concerned her and fetched Dr Ralston who diagnosed that a placental abruption had occurred, depriving the baby of oxygen, and an operation was needed immediately. Zack Rubinstein was safely born by caesarean.
In January 2019, Sinead Tinker's premature baby, Bertie Osbourne, was also born by caesarean in order that she could begin a course of radiotherapy for her spreading cervical cancer. The baby was put into neonatal care where after the next day alarms suddenly showed that something was wrong. Dr Ralston had an X-ray and blood samples taken which indicated necrotising enterocolitis due to an underdeveloped bowel and as a precaution he was put on intravenous food and antibiotics as well as being fed intravenously directly into the bloodstream. The doctor assured father Daniel Osbourne that the baby was in the best possible place for the care he needed. A few days later, it was diagnosed that the baby might need an operation however when the test results came in they showed that all was fine and no surgery was needed - the baby was developing fine and they would continue to monitor for further improvements.
Gemma Winter was her patient in June 2019 straight after an initial scan showed that she was pregnant with quads. Doctor Ralston carried out a second scan which confirmed the diagnosis and warned Gemma that with multiple pregnancies there was a heightened risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and premature labour and that risk could be reduced by selective termination of one or more of the foetuses. Gemma and Chesney, appalled up to that point at the prospect of four babies at once, were suddenly saddened by the thought that they would have to choose which of their children should die, and that they only had two weeks to make the choice. After talking the options through with friends and family, the two decided to take their chances and not abort one of the babies.
In the end, although born prematurely, all four survived. They were born when Gemma and Chesney were on a day trip to Llandudno and after several weeks at a local hospital were transferred to Weatherfield General. Two of them were subsequently cleared for release and the parents went to collect them, only to be surprised when Doctor Ralston told them that she and her colleagues had discussed the case and felt that all four could be released at once as they had made amazing progress in their growth in a short space of time. She could see that the couple were anxious and told them that they would be fine as babies were tougher than they looked and the hospital could do no more for them now than Gemma and Chesney could do themselves. After a couple of final tests, the parents drove their foursome away, waved off by the hospital staff.
In March 2022, Abi Webster gave birth several months prematurely to Alfie Franklin who was immediately transferred to an incubator. Being monitored constantly, a deterioration in his condition was quickly noticed and Dr Ralston diagnosed a bowel condition called necrotising enterocolitis and he might need to undergo an operation which was risky at his age. The procedure ended up being carried out successfully and Dr Ralston kept a close eye on his positive progress while Abi sympathised with her for the long hours she put into her job.
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- Initially credited as "Doctor", the character was first named in Episode 10584/5 (11th March 2022).
List of appearances[]
2017
2018
2019
- Wed 16th Jan (1)
- Wed 16th Jan (2)
- Fri 18th Jan (1)
- Mon 21st Jan (2)
- Wed 5th Jun (2)
- Fri 13th Dec (1)
2022
2024