Well, here I am again, my blogs or memories are going backwards!! The R in QARANC is certainly indicative of the process. Reminiscing!
The year is 1966. At the tender age of 17, I realise that I want to do nursing as a career! What do I do? I live on a Scottish island so will have to leave for the city to undertake training, but which one? Would I be accepted having left school without qualifications because I was offered a job working with our local optician!
I am encouraged to attend for interview at a training school in Glasgow, purported to be the best, although I guess this would be challenged by some! Spending a day there, taking the DC Entrance Test, named after its creator Professor Dennis Child; it was psychometric in nature and covered maths, English and IQ skills. Organised by the old General Nursing Council, now the NMC, it was an accepted route into nursing by many schools of nursing. It was finally abolished by the government in favour of NVQs.
Memories of the day and the classroom of the School of Nursing are clear. I was totally unaware of the whole process or expectations. 'Write an essay on a topical event of the day' or 'your favourite holiday'! Well, we didn’t have many holidays so it had to be topical. I wrote an essay on the Seamans Strike which was happening at the time. My knowledge of this came only from the fact that I lived on an island and the sea was an important part of our economy and lives. Empty shelves in the one and only supermarket! History does repeat itself sometimes!
I was granted a place to commence some six months later but somehow fate played its part when I saw an advertisement in my Mums Womans Own Magazine. QA Army Nursing - 'come and join us', accompanied by a wonderful photo of a Red Caped Nurse. That was it! Job done! That was what I was going to do! A letter of Thank you but no thanks to the said hospital, displeasing my Mother at the time. I think she regretted having that magazine!
Meeting with our lovely recruitment officer, Derek, on the island, amazingly we did have one, he planned an interview in Inverness, a couple of hours train journey away. A lovely old Colonel (probably not so old but we were very young) took us through another DC test.
Three of us, Elizabeth from the north of Scotland and Heather from one of the other islands spent the day learning about the Army and options available. At the end of the day we were all accepted and I was fortunate enough to be able to undertake SRN training as it was then and to commence six months hence. We would have to sign on for four years.
Wow, that is quite a
long time! I had better be sure that nursing is really for me! With this in
mind I applied to work for six months as an Auxiliary Nurse, then called, at a
major hospital in Glasgow where two of my friends worked, not the one I had applied
to before!
I would have to say that these six months gave me an absolute grounding in real nursing care working on a Female Medical ward with amazing staff. The Sister in Charge became my role model for how to be inclusive and how to interrelate with your staff at all levels. It was in the days of Nightingale Wards and 'back rounds' with not a pressure sore in sight. She and I would zip round making all the beds, hospital corners included. Busy, busy times with few staff but somehow the care was excellent. A major learning curve for me and it stood me in good stead for the future.
Then came the time to head south to join the QAs. It was a bit of a journey! First of all, came the ferry from Skye to Kyle of Lochalse, then the train to Inverness where I met up with Elizabeth and Heather. We were like the three Musketeers heading in the overnight sleeper train from Inverness, excited but with some trepidation. We did not book cabins but shared a carriage, dozing fitfully as we could. Arriving at Euston station pretty jaded, we sat for a while waiting to transfer to Aldershot. I was mesmerised by the number of people scurrying along the platforms like little ants, many in bowler hats, carrying umbrellas! I have never seen so many people! and they all looked the same! It was like a relentless tide! Why the umbrellas! That was a West Highland necessity, surely not London?
Arriving in Aldershot we found transport waiting for us with a warm welcome, other new recruits arriving in tandem. You could feel the excitement within the little group on the way to the Royal Pavilion which was to be our home for the next four months. I remember clearly driving up the drive with the colourful bushes on each side – a bit like arriving at a stately home.
I was very surprised that we had to undergo another test on the morning of arrival when we were so tired but somehow we survived, or maybe they made allowances for us, I don’t know!
It was new beginnings for all of us and the development of friendships which would endure for the rest of our lives.
Moreen Doyle, nee Munro, spent 2 years in student training at BMH Singapore but left theservice on marriage, which was expected at this time. However, the time spent in the service underpinned a lifetime of nursing service in the NHS, specialising in Operating Theatres and Day Surgery and ended her career managing the service in Cayman Islands prior to retirement
Thank you Moreen. I love that QAs come from so many different backgrounds. It makes us such a wonderfully diverse group of people.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed your story. It did make me think about back rounds and no pressure sores. In those days patients were in longer and stayed in bed longer. A bit of redness on the bottom and sister would be hopping. The only pressure sores I can recall is when pts came in with them. What have we lost?
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