Nurses recall the days of

NURSES have been an integral part of the NHS throughout its 70-year history.

Not only are they a reassuring presence in hospitals, they also have a growing responsibility in GP surgeries, care settings and people’s homes.

But their roles, uniforms and, most importantly, the care they provide have changed immeasurably since the health service’s formation on July 5, 1948.

Here health correspondent Mark Smith speaks to seven nurses at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board to find out how the job has changed since they first started their careers...

Val Willmott, clinical nurse specialist in the paediatric ear, nose and throat (ENT) team Grandmother Val, who always dreamed of becoming a nurse, first started her training at Cardiff Royal Infirmary in August 1968.

She was part of the first cohort of staff to work at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) which officially opened in 1971.

“We watched the built,” she recalled.

“It was amazing. Cardiff Royal Infirmary is a really nice-looking Victorian building, and when we saw the concrete going up [at UHW] we wondered what it was going to be like.

“In all fairness it was fine, but the hospital was very much bigger – and maybe some of that personal part [of care] was lost.”

She said she felt very privileged to be one of the first nurses to set foot in Wales’ largest hospital. And for several years she even lived on the site.

“It was a very different experience [living in the hospital]. You had to watch each other and work very closely. Once we finished a shift we’d all go out together. I enjoyed it and the camaraderie was lovely.

“If anybody got upset on the ward you could talk it through with them.

“I was 18 when I started and it was quite young to be seeing some of the things that I did.”

Val spent her two years of “stateenrolled” training on placements at several community hospitals which have since closed down, including Sully Hospital and Glan Ely Hospital.

“It was very different back then as we had matrons and sisters who were very, very strict,” she added.

“When I was training I remember giving my first injection, and down the whole length of the ward the sister shouted, ‘How are you, Mr Jones? Did it hurt? Because that was her first time doing an injection.’ We certainly wouldn’t have someone saying that now.”

She said putting on her new uniform for the first time and showing her family was a defining moment in her life. hospital being

“We had capes and caps given to us, and I can remember walking home and my parents were so proud of me. The scrubs these days are comfortable but do not look as professional and smart as the full nurse uniforms. You used to feel the part.”

After finishing her training she went into neurosurgery and spent time looking after patients in intensive care.

“We were short-staffed even back then and that was quite challenging and upsetting at times,” she added.

After returning from maternity leave, she worked part-time as a bank nurse before taking up a role in the Ely Children’s Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital.

She then had to retrain to become a fully qualified children’s nurse.

“You have to talk to children on their level,” added Val, who lives in Caerphilly.

“You have to be relaxed with them and know what they like. I’m up to date with all the cartoons, which does help when you’re working with children.”

The 67-year-old said working in the state-of-the-art Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales is wonderful.

“It is all geared up for children,” she added.

“Previously paediatrics was sometimes part of an adult area – and the ward beds were squashed in a bit – but now the wards are so open and airy.

“It means a lot more walking for the nurses, but the facilities, the play leaders and everyone involved makes it a much better environment for the children.”

Jean Hazelwood, community nurse team leader for Cardiff north and west On September 15, 1976, Jean was brought to the University Hospital of Wales by her father to start her nursing career. She began as a socalled pupil nurse and lived above the casualty department at Cardiff Royal Infirmary.

“We had a set of about 25 to 30 of us who all lived in.

“We’d go out together to Cardiff in the evenings.

“We were like sponges. We wanted to learn.

“Our role was really hands on, and we’d go onto the wards and undertake patient care, then in the afternoons you’d have a staff nurse or sister teaching you the anatomy, physiology and showing you procedures.

“In the daytime you’d have qualified nurses with you, but in the nights you would be in charge of the wards – even though you were still training.”

Jean, a resident of Fairwater, Cardiff, later went on to convert from a pupil nurse to working in cardiology and intensive care.

“I don’t think I could work in intensive just care now,” she admitted.

“There was a time in my life where I had my ‘nursing world’ and my ‘home world,’ but as you get older the two merge. I couldn’t do it now as it’s too emotional.

“You get a lot of critically-ill patients who have experienced catastrophic events, and those patients didn’t always survive.

“But the togetherness among colleagues made it fun as well as very distressing. We made sure we all pulled together.”

Her role now entails working in the community and ensuring people have suitable packages of care in place after they have left hospital.

She visits nursing homes in the north and west of Cardiff to ensure people are able to live there as independently as possible.

“I’m a keen advocate of people living in their own homes as much as possible,” she added.

“Community nursing is very different [from hospital care]. You have to think on your feet and you can walk into any situation, so you have to be prepared.”

Jean said paperwork is now a “massive” part of her job and is a “tie on her time”.

“But I have met a lot of very interesting people, and many of the patients make a big mark on your life.”

Rebecca Aylward, director of nursing for the medicine clinical board Despite coming from Wales, Rebecca started her nursing training in London in 1986, at the age of 18.

For a decade she specialised in caring for people with kidney problems, before becoming a ward sister at the University Hospital of Wales in 1992.

She now holds the position of director of nursing for medicine for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, where she is responsible for more than 1,000 nurses.

“But I’m still that student nurse and staff nurse inside because I haven’t lost those values of what’s important – patient care,” said the 49-year-old.

She said she has fond memories of her time at the Royal London Hospital, in Whitechapel, where she honed her skills.

“There were a couple of reasons I went there. One was because the uniform was absolutely amazing. They had the really old-fashioned uniforms with the puffed sleeves, the white apron and the hats,” she added.

“I used to write on the back of my apron – and you’d wear it all day. But the uniform did make you feel like you had that professional responsibility.

“The second reason [I trained in London] is because I was born in that hospital and my father trained there as a medical student, so there was a bit of family history.”

When she first started her career Rebecca said it was quite clear who was boss.

“The sister ruled that ward, and if you let her down then you let down the patients,” she said.

“The standards and the personal care that was instilled in you stayed with me.

“So I think for nurses today they need to ensure that they think about the real essence of why they come into nursing.

“You can never be criticised as long as you have the patient’s interests at heart.”

Despite being a champion for the NHS’ values, the Merthyr Tydfil resident admits certain aspects of the service have declined.

“I think the NHS has changed tremendously since the ’80s,” she said.

“It’s a much more complex organisation now. Everything seemed to be simpler and slower paced 30 years ago.

“You really did have time to spend with the patient and have that personal contact.

“My concern is that the NHS is a fantastic institution – and I certainly wouldn’t want to lose it and its philosophy and passion – but I think the patient has got a little bit lost.”

Rebecca is now in charge of all nurses on acute medical wards, including the A&E departments, at the University Hospital of Wales.

“I love the job because as a nurse you have that hands-on care for patients – and that’s really important – but in this role you have to use your nursing skills to look after the staff.”

She said the pressures on herself and her colleagues are now more intense than ever.

“The NHS seems to get a little more difficult with each year that passes,” she said.

“There are pressures on our financial situation, and patients are much more complex than when I started.

“We need to take the investment we get for our acute services and put them into communities so patients can be looked after in their own homes. I know that’s where I would want to be.”

Despite the strain on services, she said she’s still “very proud” to be working for the NHS.

“I think the NHS needs to evolve but simplify in order to succeed. We just need to take everything back to basics.”