[NV095] : Elaine at St George's 1961-1969


Elaine: St. George's 1961-1969 Click photo to read and listen to her story

Elaine was born in December 1941 and brought up in Wellingborough in the Midlands and went to grammar school there. Her interest was in nursing, along with another friend. Having decided she would like to go to London, Elaine wrote to several of the London teaching hospitals. They were only about an hour and a half away on the train. The letter she received back from Dame Muriel at St. George’s was probably the friendliest. Previously, a girl who had been head at Elaine’s school had gone on to St. George’s. Dame Muriel had actually been to prize giving at school (the high school in Wellingborough) and was very enthusiastic in her talk. Elaine was invited to go up for interview.

Although she started Preliminary Training School (PTS) in January 1961, after a month she was very unwell. Having been off sick for six weeks she started with the May 1961 set and began all over again.

Her first ward was Bence-Jones, a female surgical ward, which she enjoyed very much.

She lived in Montpellier Street, right opposite Harrod’s, the only time she has had a Knightsbridge address.

Elaine worked in theatre at St. George’s during the early days of open-heart surgery.

They all went to AMH part of the way through their time at HPC. Elaine worked on Brody ward, which was male neurosurgery, and also on Bernard Barron ward, which was paediatric neurosurgery.

After qualifying in 1964, she returned to staff at AMH, and did the neurosurgical course. She used to nurse patients on ventilators at AMH. At that time, at AMH, they did a trial for how to deal with subarachnoid haemorrhages. These were the early days with Parkinson’s disease having stereotactic procedures. They didn’t have scanners in those days, and it was all done by human touch.

Because AMH were taking from a huge area, it was decided that they would open a new neurosurgical unit at Southampton. At the end of her staffing year, when the unit was almost completed, Elaine went down there as a recovery Sister. Most of the Sisters were either from St. George’s or from the National Neurosurgical Hospital in Queen’s Square. Southampton was influenced very much by those two hospitals. The consultant neurosurgeon, Jason Brice, was formerly the senior registrar at AMH.

She stayed there until 1968, having met her husband at Southampton. He was the first anaesthetic registrar who worked in the neurosurgical unit and came from St. Mary’s Hospital. On her return to London Elaine wrote to Dame Muriel Powell, asking if she could have a staff nurse’s job at AMH, and she wrote back saying no, because Elaine’s priority, as a newly married wife, should be to her husband. Dame Muriel thought she ought to work part-time as a clinical teacher (she obviously wanted a clinical teacher!) Elaine returned to Tooting as a clinical teacher for 18 months.

She found it quite hard, as she had specialised in neuro for the whole time since qualifying. She mainly taught first years, doing the practical things in PTS. She hated standing in front of a classroom as a teacher, preferring one to one teaching.

To read & listen to Elaine's experiences whilst at St George's please click on Elaine's Story