Chapter 10

‘Every nurse was drawn to nursing because of a desire to care, to serve, or to help.’ Christina Feist-Heilmeier RN

From an early age nursing was never far away from my thoughts. Reading the ladybird book about Florence Nightingale, ‘The lady with the lamp’, her determination to ensure soldiers who fought in the Crimean war received compassionate and safe care, really resonated with me, even at a relatively young age, as did learning about Edith Cavell. Edith was a First World War British nurse, working in German-occupied Belgium who helped hundreds of British, French and Belgian soldiers escape the Germans. She was arrested, tried and executed for this act in 1915. An amazingly courageous woman in any time. I probably wasn’t cut out to be as courageous as her, although there are many who are; even today, and opted instead to be a modern-day Florence Nightingale, whatever that looked like, which in all fairness, was probably wise.

The TV series Angels, which ran from 1975 – 1983 was also one of the reasons why I wanted to be a nurse, as was Casualty, which is still going strong today, albeit it’s beyond my capacity to watch now. The death of my maternal grandma in 1979, clinched the deal. I remember sitting on the bus going home and telling my dad I wanted to be a nurse. I had lots of ideas about what I wanted to be in those days. Those nurses on the ward would now be looking after my grandma and preparing her for the next part of her journey and I considered this a privilege. Essentially though, I wanted to be a nurse, like most nurses, simply to help people.

The student nurses in Angels wore the classic aprons, cape and hats. We still had the hats when I trained but not the aprons or the capes. Whilst Sister was allowed to wear a frilly hat, the hats of students and registered nurses were made of card with one stripe denoting a first-year student nurse; two a second year and so on until we became registered nurses, when we then became eligible to wear a hat with a thick blue band across it. Makeup had to be aesthetically pleasing; shoes worn had to be flat lace ups and fob watches had to be attached to the inside of your pocket so as not to scratch or hurt anyone. Being a student nurse was the most amazing time of my life. There were some ups and downs as always, though overall, it was a wonderful experience. But, I’m not sure any student nurse training fully prepares you for the baptism of fire you experience when you can finally call yourself a registered nurse.

I had applied for Enrolled Nurse (EN) training, at Leeds General Infirmary when I was about 21. I must have had enough GCSE’s. I think three were needed. I had four. These nurses were considered more bedside nurses, completing a two-year training programme rather than the Registered General Nurse (RGN) training, which was a three-year programme. They were also given the rather derogatory designate of second level registration, whereas RGNs were first level. But I didn’t get in. I didn’t even get an interview. I never did find out why. Although I have since come to understand, but only recently, that this type of training was being phased out in the mid-1980s; about the time I applied. Although it did take many years before this finally happened. During this time enrolled nurses got a bit of a raw deal and many were downgraded following a change to the grading system. It took these nurses many years and many battles to get what they so rightly deserved. They were also offered conversion courses to become RGN’s. Most I believe took this up; some didn’t, probably because retirement or a career change beckoned. I don’t actually know if there are any enrolled nurses left on the nursing register.

With such a shortage of nurses becoming evident in the years proceeding my registration, the government had to do something, and in 2016, talks of a new role emerged; the nursing associate. A two-year programme, which was piloted in 2017 soon followed and is now commonplace within higher education, with a conversion course to registered nurse taking another 18 months once you decide to take the next step. If you ever do. There are many who simply say what comes around… goes around, but the role of the nursing associate is very different from that of an enrolled nurse and should not be compared.

So, enrolled nurse training, at least for me was not meant to be. Probably best. It didn’t stop me though and I gained my fifth ‘O level’ in 1984, which made me eligible to apply for RGN training, but life was busy at the time and I was about to marry, so I opted to stay at Dolcis working in the stockrooms, a job I had for five years.

Despite this decision, I was destined to be a nurse and in 1990 with dreams of wearing a silver belt buckle, I started my nurse training. Nurses buckles were only for registered nurses, but they were something to work towards. When I qualified, my then husband bought me a beautiful solid silver buckle to celebrate, which I still have to this day.

We also received a beautiful badge to commemorate our wonderful success, which again I still have. As we were one of the last cohort to attend a school of nursing at the hospital, we weren’t going to receive a badge. This was an obvious travesty and we fought hard to receive the coveted symbol. I don’t know if this is a unique badge just for our cohort, but I am so glad we persevered. This was probably quite a courageous thing to do at the time, but when courage is called for, ‘Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere’ a slogan associated with the Women’s Suffrage movement. This badge reminds me courage comes in all shapes and sizes. Perhaps it is needed now, more than ever.

I have learned many things about the trials and tribulations of being a nurse, but nothing says it better than this quote by Maya Angelou, ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel’.