Sad Days and Glad Days

Dr Nola Ishmael OBE recalls her days working as a trainee nurse, during the formative years of the NHS and heralds the launch of Many Rivers to Cross......

My journey to become a nurse started when one of my school friends Carmeta Catlin, wrote to me in Barbados and told me what a wonderful time she was having in England. She was at a hospital in Lancashire and her letters were vivid and my imagination was beyond control.

So what was it like working in the NHS in the early days?
As Junior nurses we needed to understand the theory of Nursing if we were to become proficient in the Practice of Nursing.

We knew it was important to pass our exams and so we set up our own study groups in the sitting room of the Nurses’ Home. There wasn’t much TV to distract us then as programmes started at 6.00pm and finished well before midnight.

We knew it was important to take photographs to send back home so that our parents could show us off to the neighbours. We also knew that they would put our pictures in place of honour in the best room in the house and glow with pride on our progress. The same photographs which is now part of the official history of the NHS.

As senior nurses our proudest moments were when we achieved status of staff nurse or better yet Ward Sister/Charge Nurse. Every promotion was studied and reviewed by our contemporaries

We had sad days and glad days - The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Cilla Black, the West Indian House Parties with the Blue Spot blaring!

Our proud days came in stages – when we passed our exams and got a change of belt colour, epaulettes, bands or frills on our caps.

In between it was a combination of excitement – learning new procedures, caring for our patients and speaking with relatives and having ourselves a good time.

Our sad days were about watching peer group members and some newcomers move up the limited career ladder when we knew we could do it too.

For some it was easier to move up than for others.

When word of my promotion to Director of Nursing got out I got calls from far and near saying how proud they were of me and when I went to the Department of Health everyone I met had the widest smile and words of congratulations. Almost to a person they reminded me that I had done it for them.

It is important to know that whether or not nurses, midwives or health visitors moved up the career slope many, many stayed on in the NHS and with that steadfastness was able to educate their children, buy their homes and follow a career that is not only prestigious but highly regarded. The debt the NHS owes to them is huge, tangible and undisputed.
This publication Many Rivers to Cross is another landmark for NHS. Today another river has been crossed!!

Speech given by Dr Nola Ishmael OBE Launch of Many Rivers to Cross – Book Launch 2 April 2007

To Read Many Rivers to Cross in full visit: www.manyriverstocross.co.uk

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