Nursing Leadership
Mrs E O Jackson Matron 1926 - 1939
Miss K E Stolworthy Matron 1939 – 1947
Jean Watson Matron 1947-1964
Miss K E Stolworthy Matron 1939 – 1947
Jean Watson Matron 1947-1964
Priscilla Joyce Cooper Matron 1964-1969
Douglas Beattie Principal Nursing Officer 1970-1982
Margaret Coomber Director of Nursing 1988 - 2004
Douglas Beattie Principal Nursing Officer 1970-1982
Margaret Coomber Director of Nursing 1988 - 2004
Mrs E O Jackson Matron 1926 - 1939
Mrs Jackson had a distinguished nursing career. A war widow, she began her training at Kings College Hospital in 1917 and rapidly rose to the rank of Sister. Her first appointment as Matron was at St Peter’s Covent Garden, which she left after two years to become Matron of Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.
At the end of the First World War, as at that of the Second, there was much to be done to make up for time lost; and although there was not the same structural damage suffered, the ever growing demands of new methods of diagnosis and treatment meant that many additions and improvements were essential if the Hospital were to maintain the leading position it had gained. When Mrs. Jackson took up the appointment in July 1926, much had to be done - some of the plans made were nearing completion; many were still in the blue-print stage.
During the time she was in charge the Norfolk and Norwich had to undergo considerable extension and modernisation including the Queen Alexandra Memorial Home for Nurses.
Mrs Jackson soon showed that in addition to a sound grasp of the technical side of her profession she possessed a flair for administration which led those in authority to seek her advice and guidance.
Mrs Jackson had total charge of the nursing side and had complete control of its efficiency. She arranged the whole routine of hospital life, believing in the personal touch. Every day at 10.30am her office was open to any member of staff from the newest probationer to the most senior sister. Her days were extremely long and full starting at 8.30am when she received a report from the senior night sister. Following this she conversed with the housekeeper regarding menus for the day, before discussing the progress of her pupils with the sister tutor. Her next task was to see the home sister to enquire how many were off sick. Finally there was a daily discussion with the house governor after which she was free to make her first round of the wards.
Her afternoons were usually free but she often had to give up her spare time for meetings with the committees of the Board, and attending to her correspondence. In the evenings she did another ward round and went off duty at 10.15pm.
Mrs Jackson implemented the preliminary training school in July 1933 and she inaugurated the Norfolk and Norwich Old Nurses league in 1938 with the Countess of Leicester as Patron and Mrs Jackson as President. The objects of the League were to keep former nurses in touch with each other and the hospital through a magazine and an annual reunion.
She supported the student nurses in activities such as swimming, tennis and hockey and was an ardent supporter of fund raising activities, an example being the Annual Garden Fete.
In 1939 Mrs. Jackson was appointed Matron of University College Hospital London, a compliment both to her and to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.
During the war she was frequently consulted by Government departments, travelling extensively on inspections of nursing and hospital services. Recognition of her work was made by the bestowal of the Royal Red Cross Decoration (1st Class).
During her 13 years as Matron, Mrs Jackson showed that she possessed the necessary qualifications, and the Norfolk and Norwich owed her much for her work during a difficult period of its history.
Elizabeth Blaxell 2009
Ref Eastern Daily Press Articles undated
Miss K E Stolworthy Matron 1939 – 1947
Kate Elizabeth Stolworthy was born in Yarmouth on December 5th 1891.
Miss Stolworthy had been first Assistant Matron at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital for four and a half years before she was appointed its Matron. This appointment entailed acting as Principal Matron of the Territorial Army Nursing Service.
Miss Stolworthy received her children’s training at Queen’s Hospital for Children Hackney Road and completed her general training at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in 1925. She was a staff nurse and ward sister at Queens’s Hospital for over four years and did her housekeeping training. Then she became ward sister and home sister for three years at the Norfolk and Norwich.
These war years brought a heavy toll of work and additional anxieties for the safety and welfare of all staff and patients.
The hospital suffered a big incendiary raid in April 1942. Fortunately no one was injured in the hospital in this or further raids. Evacuation of patients had to be arranged on more than one occasion. In all 1,443 raids were alerted in the Norwich area.
Miss Stolworthy was of a shy and retiring disposition, but with a very keen sense of humour and those people who were privileged to know and work with her during her term of office found her to be an extremely kind and helpful person, ever ready to listen and advise her staff with wisdom and understanding.
On her retirement Mr. Richard Jewson then Vice-President of the hospital wrote of her example in war-time “ I am sure the nurses themselves would be the first to admit that they were inspired and encouraged in their great ordeal by the example set them by the Matron of calm courage and unselfishness”.
Mr A J Blaxland wrote “ As Chairman of the Nurses Committee all through the war and also being the surgeon responsible for carrying out the wartime emergency management, I saw the Matron nearly every day and I can thoroughly endorse everything said about her courage and calmness. There must be still be nurses who served under Miss Stolworthy during the period of the devastating air raids, who are grateful to her and will agree that her fine example had no small bearing in keeping up the high morale which existed among the entire nursing staff of the hospital”.
In the 1947 Old Nurses League Journal she wrote “I should like to thank all the old N & N nurses who so kindly subscribed to my presentation on my retirement as Matron - I was delighted with the very beautiful gold watch given to me and I much appreciate the generous cheque accompanied by their good wishes”.
Miss Stolworthy died aged 71 years at her home in Eastbourne on February 20th 1963.
Reminiscences of Miss Stolworthy
Mrs Ann Dickinson nee Gibbs
Miss Stolworthy was always sending me back to my room to tidy my hair, as it was very bushy. We had few clothing coupons during the war and these we tried to save for mufti. We had to buy our black, lyle stockings though for work. Matron was always looking at our heels to see if we had any holes in our stockings. Every ward had a fire so we would blacken the holes with coal.
Mrs Barbara Hedley nee Watson
She was a wonderful Matron and very strict on uniform and looking your best. She had a Scottie dog called “ Scotty” who used to follow her around. If one was returning to the wards from X Ray or Path Lab and saw Scotty sitting in the corridor outside a ward, you knew she was on her rounds and one would quickly get back to your own ward and warn the staff “Matron is on her rounds”
Rhona Drew nee Ash
My most vivid memory was on the night of one of the Baedeker raids on Norwich. We had to get the patients out onto the front lawn. I turned round and in the light from many fires from the bombs there stood Matron in full uniform, not a hair out of place, looking very calm with her dog at her feet and her golf clubs in her arms.
Elizabeth Blaxell 2009
Ref Eastern Daily Press articles and Archive material.
Jean Watson Matron 1947-1964
Miss Watson did most of her training at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and held the Diploma of Nursing from the University of London. Before coming to Norwich Miss Watson held several provincial appointments including Sister Tutor in charge of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Night Sister at Nottingham General Hospital before going to the West London Hospital as Assistant Matron.
It was soon after the end of World War 2 when Miss Watson came to the Norfolk and Norwich. The Hospital had been severely damaged by enemy action and major areas were in ruins including the training school and the Leicester Nurses Home.
Undaunted Miss Watson worked to better the lot of the Nursing staff.
Speaking six months after her appointment at the National Council for Women Miss Watson spoke of the need for rigorous nurse recruitment to fill the staffing discrepancies created by the reduction in the working hours from 80 hours per week to 48 hours per week, and also the opportunities for women outside the hospital which had not existed before the war. She felt strongly that nurses should not do domestic work on the wards. Nurses with School Certificate qualification were preferred for the training program but Miss Watson described ways of helping would be nurses to reach the educational standards required.
Miss Watson was described by some as a Matron from a past era. She set high standards and therefore commanded respect and loyalty. She was interested in all the happenings at the hospital and had a human approach to all problems. She had a keen sense of humour and enjoyed all social functions. At the annual Christmas Dinner Miss Watson would address the Haggis in true Scottish style.
My personal memory of Miss Watson was when I went to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital for my interview for entry into the training school. It was January 1963, my mother had bought me a new coat and I had saved for new shoes. They were brown, pointed and kitten heeled, very 1960s. I thought I was the bee’s knees.
I was called to her office and she met me at the door. She looked me up and down and said in her lilting Scottish accent “They are a very uncomfortable pair of shoes you have on there girl.” Somewhat deflated I entered her office but she obviously didn’t hold the shoes against me as that was the beginning of my nursing career.
Doreen Betts 2009
References. Eastern Daily Press reports (undated) Journal entries including her obituary.
Priscilla Joyce Cooper Matron 1964-1969
Miss Cooper was appointed Matron at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in February 1964 (coincidentally the month I started my Training).
Miss Cooper began her nursing career in 1944 at the Middlesex Hospital where she did her general training and then qualified as a midwife at Warnford General Hospital, Leamington Spa. In 1958 She took a Nursing Administration Certificate with distinction in Training School Administration and endorsements in Psychology and Ethics.
Her first appointment as a staff nurse was on a surgical ward at the Middlesex and during the next three years she became a night sister and then a relief sister. Following a three month course for ward sisters organised by the King Edward’s Hospital Fund for London, Miss Cooper was appointed ward sister at the Middlesex in October 1953. After 3 years as ward sister Miss Cooper then went on to be Administrative Sister in the Matron’s Office at the Middlesex and in 1957 took a nursing administrative course with the RCN.
In September 1958 Miss Cooper became Assistant Matron at the Middlesex. It was then that she went to the United States of America to study hospital and training school administration, an interest which finally brought her to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in 1964. Miss Cooper followed Matron Jean Watson who had served the Norwich Hospitals during a period when there had been a revolution in medical treatment and thinking. Miss Cooper was to carry on the revolution of change in the approaches to nurses and the care they gave to their patients.
Miss Cooper did not conform to the typical idea of a matron of a large hospital. She presented as friendly rather than formidable, she dressed fashionably and was communicative with those around her.
When asked in an interview with an Eastern Daily Press reporter in 1966 if her uniform of a neat grey Worstead dress and small lace cap was the uniform of the modern matron she replied that it was her own idea. She said she had never liked stiff collars and cuffs for nurses or out of date uniforms (I’m sure we all remember the sore necks we suffered wearing those starched collars!). Miss Cooper went on to say that she would like to modernise the uniforms throughout the whole hospital, and that she was in favour of nurses wearing their own clothes in study blocks at the School of Nursing.
Miss Cooper introduced the regular Ward Sisters meetings which were held in the Board Room. She would start the meetings off by saying “Good morning Sisters. Lift up your hearts”. This seemed a strange way to behave to some of the “old school” sisters but the meetings continued to become a new trend. Another “modern” idea which was championed by Miss Cooper was to build a residential block of flats and bed sits where nurses could be entirely free of hospital rules and regulations. (What an eye opener this project was for many of us.)
Miss Cooper left the Norfolk and Norwich hospital to become Chief Nursing Officer in Oxford until she took early retirement in 1978. She returned to Norwich where she has enjoyed many happy and active years to date.
References. Eastern Daily Press articles (undated) Journal articles.
Douglas Beattie Principal Nursing Officer 1970-1982
I became Assistant Matron – Operating Theatres in the United Norwich Hospitals in September 1968 at a time when the decision to rebuild the Norfolk and Norwich on the Newmarket Road site had already been taken. My responsibility was to work towards a unified Operating Theatre service that would apply when the surgery being carried out in six different locations at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital would move to new Operating Theatres in one area and be joined by the Operating Theatre services from the Jenny Lind Hospital for Sick Children and to which the Operating Theatres services of the West Norwich Hospital would also transfer.
This was clearly a time when changes were to be made, but the changes to be made locally in Operating Theatre services were nothing more than minor adjustments when compared to the major changes that were ahead for the profession of hospital nursing to be brought about by the implementation of the Salmon Report.
The government established the committee to consider the Senior Nursing Staff Structure in 1963 under the chairmanship of Mr Brian Salmon whose qualifications for the appointment appear to based on his successful family business, that of the Lyons grocery empire. The committee reported in 1966 and the report was ever after known as the Salmon Report, it was not immediately popular with the profession and, at one time, was strongly opposed by the Royal College of Nursing.
Salmon highlighted anomalies within the profession and gave as examples the title of Matron which applied to the senior nurse in a cottage hospital of twenty beds as well as to the senior nurse of a city hospital with several medical and surgical specialties, Casualty and Outpatient Departments who was also most likely to be the Superintendant of the Schools of Nursing and of Midwifery. Salmon was also sensitive to the fact that many larger hospitals had Nursing Committees attended by members of the medical staff and administrators assisted by non- elected do-gooders (e.g. a retired Matron from a large hospital and the Headmistress of a local girls’ school) but of which the Matron of the hospital was neither a member nor even ‘in attendance’. Salmon also recognised that an increasing number of men had entered nursing and were progressing to senior posts for which the title Matron was inappropriate. Salmon was very much in favour of Nurses managing Nursing; the misfortune is that at the time of the report few nurses had any training in the management of either staff or resources.
Brian Salmon was a prominent member of the Jewish community in London and it is, perhaps, not coincidental that the principle suggested for the structure of nursing in the Salmon Report is to be found in the Old Testament; Exodus Ch 18 verses 13 – 27.
In accepting the recommendations of the Salmon Report the government established a number of pilot districts to test the effect of the changes in the structure. It is unfortunate that in its enthusiasm for change the government gave the green light for the implementation of the recommendations of the Salmon Report across the United Kingdom before the pilot districts had opportunity to report back on the effect of the changes.
In this pre-Salmon era the Matron was the head of the nursing service and gave opinion, made decisions and was the final arbiter on matters all affecting nurses and nursing, everything from the number of nurses employed in a Ward or department to the distance from the floor to the lower hem of a nurse’s dress and when and if the nurse could take annual leave.
The Matron was supported by a Deputy Matron and a number of Assistant matrons. The Assistant Matrons were exactly that – assistants to the Matron implementing her wishes and in the manner she prescribed; they were often allocated a section of the hospital to monitor but without any continuing management responsibility. A nurse wishing to leave her appointment would write a letter of resignation addressed to the Matron, and often deliver it in person. The Matron would determine whether or not the nurse was to be replaced and if so by what grade of nurse, and possibly suggesting, by name, a candidate soon to qualify from the School of Nursing. There was consternation and dismay in my colleagues when they realised that as an Assistant Matron I was writing to Surgeons and Chairmen of Medical/Surgical committees seeking or giving information and signing the letter myself whilst my colleagues had to submit their letters to the Matron for signature.
Miss Priscilla Cooper resigned from the post of Matron of the United Norwich Hospitals in favour of a Chief Nursing Officer appointment in Oxford and some months after this the implementation of the Salmon Report began in Norwich with the appointment of Miss Jean Fairs to the post of Chief Nursing Officer. Miss Fairs, soon to be Mrs Wyatt, was appointed from the post of Assistant Matron and Superintendent of the School of Midwifery at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. After taking up her appointment and drawing a draft management structure Miss Fairs appointed three Principal Nursing Officers, Gillian Barnard to Midwifery, Monica Adcock later Mrs Steel to Education and me, Douglas Beattie to the General Acute Unit. My area of responsibility was the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (excluding Maternity and Gynaecology services) the West Norwich Hospital, the Jenny Lind Hospital for Sick Children, Wayland Hospital, Attleborough (just 4 x 22 bed Wards and one operating theatre at that time), Whitlingham Hospital (a long stay geriatric unit), Dereham Hospital, a pre-convalescent and geriatric unit and later, and for a short time only, Wicklewood Hospital a long stay geriatric unit before it was closed and eventually became a school and later still apartments. My first visit to Dereham Hospital was very interesting, the Matron, Mrs Joan Highett, her rich auburn hair complimented by the shade of green she had chose for her uniform dresses, conducted me round the three wards and made me aware that not only did she manage the nursing service but also the catering service buying meats and fish from local merchants and vegetables and potatoes from local farmers at prices better than if she had used the catering contract issued from Norwich.
I became Assistant Matron – Operating Theatres in the United Norwich Hospitals in September 1968 at a time when the decision to rebuild the Norfolk and Norwich on the Newmarket Road site had already been taken. My responsibility was to work towards a unified Operating Theatre service that would apply when the surgery being carried out in six different locations at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital would move to new Operating Theatres in one area and be joined by the Operating Theatre services from the Jenny Lind Hospital for Sick Children and to which the Operating Theatres services of the West Norwich Hospital would also transfer.
This was clearly a time when changes were to be made, but the changes to be made locally in Operating Theatre services were nothing more than minor adjustments when compared to the major changes that were ahead for the profession of hospital nursing to be brought about by the implementation of the Salmon Report.
The government established the committee to consider the Senior Nursing Staff Structure in 1963 under the chairmanship of Mr Brian Salmon whose qualifications for the appointment appear to based on his successful family business, that of the Lyons grocery empire. The committee reported in 1966 and the report was ever after known as the Salmon Report, it was not immediately popular with the profession and, at one time, was strongly opposed by the Royal College of Nursing.
Salmon highlighted anomalies within the profession and gave as examples the title of Matron which applied to the senior nurse in a cottage hospital of twenty beds as well as to the senior nurse of a city hospital with several medical and surgical specialties, Casualty and Outpatient Departments who was also most likely to be the Superintendant of the Schools of Nursing and of Midwifery. Salmon was also sensitive to the fact that many larger hospitals had Nursing Committees attended by members of the medical staff and administrators assisted by non- elected do-gooders (e.g. a retired Matron from a large hospital and the Headmistress of a local girls’ school) but of which the Matron of the hospital was neither a member nor even ‘in attendance’. Salmon also recognised that an increasing number of men had entered nursing and were progressing to senior posts for which the title Matron was inappropriate. Salmon was very much in favour of Nurses managing Nursing; the misfortune is that at the time of the report few nurses had any training in the management of either staff or resources.
Brian Salmon was a prominent member of the Jewish community in London and it is, perhaps, not coincidental that the principle suggested for the structure of nursing in the Salmon Report is to be found in the Old Testament; Exodus Ch 18 verses 13 – 27.
In accepting the recommendations of the Salmon Report the government established a number of pilot districts to test the effect of the changes in the structure. It is unfortunate that in its enthusiasm for change the government gave the green light for the implementation of the recommendations of the Salmon Report across the United Kingdom before the pilot districts had opportunity to report back on the effect of the changes.
In this pre-Salmon era the Matron was the head of the nursing service and gave opinion, made decisions and was the final arbiter on matters all affecting nurses and nursing, everything from the number of nurses employed in a Ward or department to the distance from the floor to the lower hem of a nurse’s dress and when and if the nurse could take annual leave.
The Matron was supported by a Deputy Matron and a number of Assistant matrons. The Assistant Matrons were exactly that – assistants to the Matron implementing her wishes and in the manner she prescribed; they were often allocated a section of the hospital to monitor but without any continuing management responsibility. A nurse wishing to leave her appointment would write a letter of resignation addressed to the Matron, and often deliver it in person. The Matron would determine whether or not the nurse was to be replaced and if so by what grade of nurse, and possibly suggesting, by name, a candidate soon to qualify from the School of Nursing. There was consternation and dismay in my colleagues when they realised that as an Assistant Matron I was writing to Surgeons and Chairmen of Medical/Surgical committees seeking or giving information and signing the letter myself whilst my colleagues had to submit their letters to the Matron for signature.
Miss Priscilla Cooper resigned from the post of Matron of the United Norwich Hospitals in favour of a Chief Nursing Officer appointment in Oxford and some months after this the implementation of the Salmon Report began in Norwich with the appointment of Miss Jean Fairs to the post of Chief Nursing Officer. Miss Fairs, soon to be Mrs Wyatt, was appointed from the post of Assistant Matron and Superintendent of the School of Midwifery at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. After taking up her appointment and drawing a draft management structure Miss Fairs appointed three Principal Nursing Officers, Gillian Barnard to Midwifery, Monica Adcock later Mrs Steel to Education and me, Douglas Beattie to the General Acute Unit. My area of responsibility was the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (excluding Maternity and Gynaecology services) the West Norwich Hospital, the Jenny Lind Hospital for Sick Children, Wayland Hospital, Attleborough (just 4 x 22 bed Wards and one operating theatre at that time), Whitlingham Hospital (a long stay geriatric unit), Dereham Hospital, a pre-convalescent and geriatric unit and later, and for a short time only, Wicklewood Hospital a long stay geriatric unit before it was closed and eventually became a school and later still apartments. My first visit to Dereham Hospital was very interesting, the Matron, Mrs Joan Highett, her rich auburn hair complimented by the shade of green she had chose for her uniform dresses, conducted me round the three wards and made me aware that not only did she manage the nursing service but also the catering service buying meats and fish from local merchants and vegetables and potatoes from local farmers at prices better than if she had used the catering contract issued from Norwich.
At one stage on this visit Mrs Highett took me into a wooden shed much larger than an average garage, it smelled like a glorious harvest festival, this was the apple store and there were trays on each side of apples and pears from trees in the hospital grounds, each fruit wrapped individually in tissue and waiting to be used in the hospital menu.
It may be of interest you to know that at the time of taking up this appointment, November 1970, my salary for this full time post (42 hours a week) was £2,160 rising to £2,610 by annual incremental over five years. I lived in a small apartment in the Alexandra Nurses Home for which I was charged £381 a year and I also had use of the only individual garage on site for which there was a separate charge of £26 a year. My apartment overlooked Newmarket Road, the rooms, a tiny bedroom, small sitting room and a combined bathroom and lavatory opened off a wide hallway that had French windows opening onto a spacious balcony which was the roof of the bay window in the Staff Nurses Sitting Room on the ground floor, sometimes called the Blue Sitting Room. The charges for accommodation, for meals and refreshments, laundry and room cleaning were included in the £381 annual charge and, Oh yes; a maid brought a tray of tea to my room every morning at 7 o’clock. Becoming non-resident some years later was a shock to the system! It is unfortunate that shortly after her marriage Mrs Wyatt resigned from her appointment. This had the effect of putting a brake on any further implementation of the Salmon recommendations in Norwich until her successor was appointed and commenced duty.
Miss Mary Cossey succeeded Mrs Wyatt and became Chief Nursing Officer in what was still the area of the Norwich, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Hospital Management Committee, taking up her appointment in April 1971. Miss Cossey was appointed to Norwich from the post of District Nursing Officer on the Isle of Wight, which was a pilot district testing the consequences of the implementation of the recommendations of the Salmon Report. This appointment was immediately interesting to me as I had known Miss Cossey as Matron of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Bournemouth in 1961 when I was a Staff Nurse in the Operating Theatres of that hospital. When I declared my acquaintance with this lady I was asked “What is she like?” to which I replied, respectfully, “She is upright, downright and outright and will be very good for us”. Today, forty seven years later, I have not changed my opinion and I am pleased to record that I continue to see Miss Cossey from time to time.
The implementation of the Salmon recommendations was a protracted affair and not received with universal acclaim. The Ward Sisters did not care for the abolition of the role of Hospital Matron, the status of the Matron had reflected across the entire hospital and those Matrons who held the post with panache were admired and respected if not exactly loved. The idea of a Unit Matron or Nursing Officer for a group of four to six Wards did not go down well; when the Nursing Officer had done a Ward round how would they occupy their time, they were no longer managing the Linen Room or the Domestic Staff as they did when Assistant Matrons and Student Nurse allocation for Ward experience (the Change List) had been devolved to the School of Nursing. What was this about managing a Unit establishment? Interference in Ward affairs seemed likely and the further outlook unsettled.
Assistant Matrons were usually happy with the prospect of becoming a Nursing Officer, an increase in salary applied for most and the idea of a unit of personal responsibility was not unattractive. Managing resources was more difficult, ideally each Nursing Officer should have had a financial budget for staff and the opportunity to negotiate with the Ward Sister and, if significant numbers were involved, the Senior Nursing Officer about how it would be used. At best Nursing Officers were given an ‘establishment’ based on staff in post plus vacancies and had to learn how to calculate part-time hours as a whole time equivalent. Attendance at a Management Course became a requirement for those appointed to Nursing Officer posts and later for Ward Sisters who were likely to seek promotion.
Hospital Treasurers did not like the implementation of Salmon recommendations because for years they had regularly used the unspent portion of the nursing budget, and there always was an unspent portion, to finance the purchase of furniture and equipment for the hospital generally towards the end of the financial year.
About this time Miss ‘Masie’ Waldron, Matron of the West Norwich Hospital retired to her apartment in Spain, Miss Winifred Andrew former Deputy Matron was assimilated into the post of Senior Nursing Officer at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and Graham Archard became Senior Nursing Officer, Operating Theatres.
As you will be aware, many of us survived to tell the tale. I do not believe that the implementation of the Salmon recommendations caused any deterioration in the standards of patient care and for many nurses it opened career pathways that are still, more than thirty years later, being developed.
Douglas Beattie 2009
It may be of interest you to know that at the time of taking up this appointment, November 1970, my salary for this full time post (42 hours a week) was £2,160 rising to £2,610 by annual incremental over five years. I lived in a small apartment in the Alexandra Nurses Home for which I was charged £381 a year and I also had use of the only individual garage on site for which there was a separate charge of £26 a year. My apartment overlooked Newmarket Road, the rooms, a tiny bedroom, small sitting room and a combined bathroom and lavatory opened off a wide hallway that had French windows opening onto a spacious balcony which was the roof of the bay window in the Staff Nurses Sitting Room on the ground floor, sometimes called the Blue Sitting Room. The charges for accommodation, for meals and refreshments, laundry and room cleaning were included in the £381 annual charge and, Oh yes; a maid brought a tray of tea to my room every morning at 7 o’clock. Becoming non-resident some years later was a shock to the system! It is unfortunate that shortly after her marriage Mrs Wyatt resigned from her appointment. This had the effect of putting a brake on any further implementation of the Salmon recommendations in Norwich until her successor was appointed and commenced duty.
Miss Mary Cossey succeeded Mrs Wyatt and became Chief Nursing Officer in what was still the area of the Norwich, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Hospital Management Committee, taking up her appointment in April 1971. Miss Cossey was appointed to Norwich from the post of District Nursing Officer on the Isle of Wight, which was a pilot district testing the consequences of the implementation of the recommendations of the Salmon Report. This appointment was immediately interesting to me as I had known Miss Cossey as Matron of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Bournemouth in 1961 when I was a Staff Nurse in the Operating Theatres of that hospital. When I declared my acquaintance with this lady I was asked “What is she like?” to which I replied, respectfully, “She is upright, downright and outright and will be very good for us”. Today, forty seven years later, I have not changed my opinion and I am pleased to record that I continue to see Miss Cossey from time to time.
The implementation of the Salmon recommendations was a protracted affair and not received with universal acclaim. The Ward Sisters did not care for the abolition of the role of Hospital Matron, the status of the Matron had reflected across the entire hospital and those Matrons who held the post with panache were admired and respected if not exactly loved. The idea of a Unit Matron or Nursing Officer for a group of four to six Wards did not go down well; when the Nursing Officer had done a Ward round how would they occupy their time, they were no longer managing the Linen Room or the Domestic Staff as they did when Assistant Matrons and Student Nurse allocation for Ward experience (the Change List) had been devolved to the School of Nursing. What was this about managing a Unit establishment? Interference in Ward affairs seemed likely and the further outlook unsettled.
Assistant Matrons were usually happy with the prospect of becoming a Nursing Officer, an increase in salary applied for most and the idea of a unit of personal responsibility was not unattractive. Managing resources was more difficult, ideally each Nursing Officer should have had a financial budget for staff and the opportunity to negotiate with the Ward Sister and, if significant numbers were involved, the Senior Nursing Officer about how it would be used. At best Nursing Officers were given an ‘establishment’ based on staff in post plus vacancies and had to learn how to calculate part-time hours as a whole time equivalent. Attendance at a Management Course became a requirement for those appointed to Nursing Officer posts and later for Ward Sisters who were likely to seek promotion.
Hospital Treasurers did not like the implementation of Salmon recommendations because for years they had regularly used the unspent portion of the nursing budget, and there always was an unspent portion, to finance the purchase of furniture and equipment for the hospital generally towards the end of the financial year.
About this time Miss ‘Masie’ Waldron, Matron of the West Norwich Hospital retired to her apartment in Spain, Miss Winifred Andrew former Deputy Matron was assimilated into the post of Senior Nursing Officer at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and Graham Archard became Senior Nursing Officer, Operating Theatres.
As you will be aware, many of us survived to tell the tale. I do not believe that the implementation of the Salmon recommendations caused any deterioration in the standards of patient care and for many nurses it opened career pathways that are still, more than thirty years later, being developed.
Douglas Beattie 2009
Margaret Coomber Director of Nursing 1988 - 2004
I commenced my nurse training in 1960 when the role of Matron was very much in evidence, as a student nurse you soon became aware of the scope of her role. Matron seemed to see everything that moved in the hospital. It could be the patients, nurses, doctors, cleaners or laundry staff, e.g. when things went right or wrong and especially when student nurses climbed up the fire escape at night and had trusted friends at the top to open doors, oh yes you were requested to visit matrons office for a few words the next morning, but we all respected her and her role and knew the hospital was in a safe pair of hands.
During my career I often thought back to my student days with pride and knowing that all the hard work both physically, (months spent in the sluice cleaning bed pans), and academically had been very worth while and I would not have changed any part of it.
As the years went by I still kept in touch with Matron and watched her career change when hospitals were amalgamated and her role became different but she still kept that air of being in charge with her until she retired. I don’t think she ever realised how many people’s lives she had influenced, as far as she was concerned she was just doing her job. I know she still did her daily patient rounds right to the end, perhaps not bothering about the wheels being in a straight line or the corners of the bed linen going in the right direction (I am sure she thought about it but never mentioned it).
When I came to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in January 1988 I was appointed as Patient Care Manager for the Medical Unit. I very soon became absorbed in the very professional and caring ward teams. I enjoyed the pride everyone had for their hospital with many traditions still carried on, it is a fact that some hospitals have that feeling and others do not. I have worked in both over the years and know everyone feels happier, works better, and patients recover quicker in a caring atmosphere which is exactly what I found at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and I knew I would be happy working here.
In November 1988 I was appointed as Director of Nursing. It had all happened very quickly, hardly time to breath. One day I was walking around the wards and a Charge Nurse said to me “So you are it”, I asked what he meant and he said “Matron”, and followed it by saying “I don’t expect we will see you on the wards much now, you will be too busy”, how wrong was he. I always remained very involved with the clinical areas. During the following years whilst my title changed several times with the appointment of different Chief Executives and the change from Hospital to Trust my main aim was still to develop nursing and ensure that patient care was upmost in everyone’s mind.
When times were difficult I left my office and visited the clinical areas to remind me of the reason I was in my post, and to ensure that I was always kept up to date with the latest developments, this enabled me to fight for resources to constantly improve patient care and conditions for the staff.
Although I had different responsibilities I always felt that my role was not too different from that of the Matron, I am glad to say. I still saw most things that went on or if not I certainly heard about them.
I know that some of the values of the “Matron” role will always be carried on with pride and enthusiasm by the Modern Matrons and the Sisters.
Margaret Coomber.
RGN, O.B.E. Former Director of Nursing