MATRON was once a very important person in the hierarchy of any hospital.
She ruled with an iron fist and ensured that strict rules were adhered to by both her nursing staff, patients and visitors — when they were allowed on the wards, which was usually once a week!
Mrs Bridie Sutton has some amusing stories of her years on the wards at Ramsbottom General Hospital in the 1940s, including the night one nurse collected patients’ dentures — and put them all in the same dish...
Then there was the time she didn’t turn down the steam sterilising unit and it exploded, breaking a window and the Christmas Eve she was Father Christmas on the children’s ward.
She also recalls: “Anything that was brought in by visitors had to be reported and approved. Somehow an elderly, female patient got hold of a bottle of whisky! She offered me a drink — I could have been drunk at my post!”
Bridie, who lives in Blackburn, has also sent us the regulations that nursing staff at adhered to and we reckon some readers might recall those times.
Here are a few!
l Only new books and papers allowed on the ward.
l No admittance without a card and do not disclose information to visitors.
l Do not let linen touch the floor, be it soiled or otherwise.
l Do not sit, unless waiting for a patient to recover from anaesthetic.
l Be punctual. The first pip is 9 o’clock, not the last.
A list of duties for day nursing staff includes: l Clean bathrooms daily and x-ray room weekly.
l Check laundry return and place linen correctly in the cupboard.
l Make the beds and dust floors morning and afternoon.
It was the poor nurse on night duty, however, who had a very full shift and strict timetable, which advised she had to get up at 8.30pm, breakfast and report for duty at 9!
After making sure patients were comfortable for the night, she then had to clean matron’s sitting room, sort out the flowers and clean the operating theatre, setting out the surgery instruments for the next day.
l The temperature on the ward had to be taken three times, at 10pm, 2am and 6am. Then: l 5.30am, patients to be washed and given a morning drink.
l 6.30am onwards, take freshly brewed tea to matron, waken the day staff, write the report and roll bandages on to the wooden rollers.
l 9am Collect and deliver orders to the shops and carry out requested errands to the bank or chemists.
l Bed at noon, take lunch there at 12.30pm.
Phew!
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