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NHS at 60: Former nurse recalls recalls life on the wards
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| Second from right, Doris, Derek Read's wife, gave up nursing after she got married |
PERSONAL sacrifice and professional pride sum up the nursing career of Derek Read.
Derek was appointed the first male district nurse in Essex in 1957 and for wife, Doris, memories of her late husband hold nothing but admiration for a man who made caring for others a life- long pursuit.
"He was a fabulous man," Doris, 81, of Eastwood Road, Rayleigh, recalls.
"Everyone who met him loved him. He just had a way about him that people responded to. He was so kind and caring, and really nursing was a career made for him."
Having started out life in the health service as a humble nursing aid, before training to become a nurse in 1956, Derek's career ran almost parallel to the growth of the NHS.
However, it was Doris (nee Hawley) herself, prior to her marriage, who first answered the call to a career in caring, and began her training in 1945 at the age of 18.
"I loved it," she says. "I was based at the Waterloo Hospital for women and children. It was very strict and there was a lot of discipline, but we loved every minute of it.
"All us worked hard together and supported each other, and we were all friends together."
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| Derek, sixth from left on the back row, sees in Christmas with patients and staff at Rochford Hospital |
While many have the image of formidable matrons ruling the roost, for Doris it was the nursing sister who was to be feared.
"It was really the sister who ran the wards," Doris recalls.
"She made sure everything was up to scratch. She would pick one of us to take the matron round the ward and we had to know everything about all of the patients."
Doris also recalls the strong lines of formality between patient and nurse.
"We were not allowed to get too familiar with the patients. We never gave them our first names. I was always Nurse Hawley, never Doris."
Three years into her career and the face of the health service as she knew was was about to change. Not that Doris and her friends were aware at the time.
"Our world was the hospital and we didn't know what was going on outside of it," she recalls. "We didn't know what the NHS was. When it was brought in in 1948 I remember having to queue up outside of the matron's office to sign to say we were willing to work for the NHS.
"To be honest, we didn't really know what we were signing up for and nothing really seemed to change overnight.
"We loved the life. We were so looked after in the nurses' home. We were cherished and really were the angels of the health service. Although it was strict, it was rewarding."
Like many women at the time, though, once she got married Doris gave up her career in 1949 to run the home and raise the couple's two children, daughter Deidre and son Steve.
It was then Derek took the decision to train.
It was tough for the whole family as he was earning £7 a week as a nursing assistant, but had to drop down to £5 a week to become a trainee nurse.
Doris recalls: "He loved every minute, but it was also hard for us.
"I had to take in a student to make extra money and I would put porridge in the mince to make it go further."
Once qualified, though, Derek took up a nursing role immediately and was the first male district nurse in Essex.
In 1979 he received his long service award from the Queen Mother, and by the time he retired at the age of 60, in 1987, he was assistant director of nursing services.
Sadly he died in 2003 from a heart attack, but for Doris and the rest of the family, his contribution to the health of the local area is something of which they are justifiably proud.
7:42pm Tuesday 8th July 2008
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