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District Nursing As I Remember It 40 Years Ago.(1961)
Whickham at this time was part of Durham County. My interview for the post of District Nurse was with the Medical Officer of Health and the Health Committee.
My appointment covered Byermoor, Marley Hill and Sunniside. At that period District Nurses worked in a specific geographical area and cared for the patients of all Doctor's in that area. Nurse Hill's area was Swalwell and Whickham; Nurse Robinson was responsible for Dunston.
I was supplied with a uniform, which consisted of a navy blue dress with a starched collar, white apron and storm cap. I wore black stockings and sturdy shoes as my mode of transport was by bus or my two feet. Each nurse was responsible for the laundering of her uniform. I was very lucky that my mother was one of the breed used to possticks and starching in the old fashioned way.
There were very specific teachings regarding uniform.
1. Apron must not touch the lining of coat, therefore it was pinned up.
2. In a patient's house the coat must be removed, folded with the lining inside and placed on clean paper. These actions were to prevent contamination.
I was supplied with a nursing bag. It was made of metal with a linen lining. This had to be washed and changed every week. It contained various surgical instruments, glass syringe with needles, douche can with tubing, funnel with rubber tubing, kidney dish, bowl, dressing towel, soap and nail brush and towel for use of nurse. This was a time when disposable equipment was not in use and it was quite a performance when a douche was ordered, remembering that all equipment had to be boiled and we used the patients' pans.
At this time requests for my services was by a phone call from a Doctor but more often by a message being left at Tommy White's newsagent shop in Sunniside where I called each morning.
I won't go into detail of the nursing procedures of that day but I would like to describe how injections were prepared. Hypodermic syringe with the barrel removed and two needles were put into a saucepan {supplied by the patient} covered with cold water and boiled for five minutes. After rinsing they were boiled again replaced in the nursing bag ready to go through the same procedure when needed again. Nurse always carried a jar of cotton wool swabs soaked in surgical spirit used for sterilising the skin.
Surgical dressings was quite a complicated procedure, apart from having to boil all instruments in the patient's home, dressings were prepared by the nurse. Gauze, cotton wool swabs and pads were placed in a clean tin and baked in an oven for one hour. This tin would then be left at the patient's house. It was very rare to have white dressings they always looked slightly sunburned. Luckily this was the time of open fires and disposing of soiled material was no problem.
As I said before my method of travel was either by bus or shanks pony. I'm amazed on looking back how much walking I did, especially in snowy weather when buses weren't running, walking to Byermoor wasn't much fun. I remember when doing relief work at Swalwell, it was a Sunday and in those days buses from Swalwell to Whickham were infrequent and I was more than grateful when Charley Kidd who was our local undertaker offered me a lift in his hearse (I would like to point out there was no coffin in at that time).
Life became much easier when I passed my driving test in 1963. I bought a beautiful pale blue MINI for £500. The money for this was provided in the shape of a loan from Durham County Council, which was repaid by a certain amount being deducted from my salary over the next five years.
Later on many changes were made. Boundaries were changed. Whickham became part of Gateshead so my employer changed. There were many more changes too numerous to mention. I know I will always remember the kindnesses and friends I made in my first district.My district covered Byermoor, Marley Hill and Sunniside.
Freda Spriggs, nee Grundy