ninety years of service - University Hospital Southampton NHS ...

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A new department. including X-ray was provided in 1928 on the Ground floor of the new Shirley Wing built on to the frontof the old house. Dr Vincent Rice was appointed to the staff in the following year being in charge of massage, electrotherapyand x-ray. The department was run by Mrs Thomas from 1931 to 1947. In that year Dr Ormiston wanted space forhis new gastro-enteritis ward so the physiotherapy section of the department was moved across the side drive to the oldkitchens at the back of Oakfield. Dr Jim Preston was appointed Director of Physical Medicine in 1948 and attended theChildren’s Hospital on alternate Thursday afternoons until we moved in 1974. The department consisted of three rooms, awaiting room, a treatment room and a storeroom. As well as a desk and couch the treatment room had wall and parallelbars and also ultra-violet and infrared lamps. At first the main referrals were children with asthma and some with minororthopaedic disorders but later those with cerebral palsy and spina-bifida dominated the scene. Many of these requiredprolonged physiotherapy and perhaps the provision of appliances following orthopaedic operationsX-ray Department“As mentioned above, X-ray equipment was first provided in 1928. After thewar this had become obsolete and an appeal for funds to buy a newmachine was launched. With the transfer of Physiotherapy across the drivethe X-ray department became independent and Dr Rice confined hisresponsibilities to radiology. Consultant cover was rather thin for someyears and I had to do my own screening of heart cases. I also did my ownbronchograms using a technique I had learned at Great Ormond Street,which involved the introduction of a barbarous cannula through the cricothyroidmembrane. I soon abandoned this method.Dr Ivan Hyde came to the Children’s Hospital in 1965 to replace Dr BobCaton, Dr Rice having retired earlier. Anne Arscott was the radiographer incharge assisted by a part-timer doing three sessions. The previoussecretarial cover had been lost. Dr Hyde remembers “The main entrance tothe hospital was by a side door into a small hall around which were clustered the telephone exchange, Matron’s office, themilk kitchen, the main passage and the entrance to the X-ray department. Immediately inside this door was a sizeableroom containing the x-ray set which was suitable for straightforward radiology and fluoroscopy (with dark adaptation).Opening off this room by a narrow passage were in sequence, the darkroom, a small office and a lavatory, in which theyalso made the coffee. All film processing was manual, In 1967 Anne Arscott left and was replaced by Sandra Read.During this year David Williamson asked me it I thought an image intensifier would be a suitable objective for theSouthampton Carnival Appeal, an opportunity not to be missed, The appeal was supported by Dr Horace King, Speakerof the House of Commons and the machine was handed over by Dr and Mrs King in July 1970. Drs Brunton and Burrowsalso attended the hospital but were replaced by Dr Cook in 1968”.“1969 was a milestone when I was allowed a part-time secretary. She was Sheila Clement, who came as a temp. from thesecretarial agency and stayed with us until her retirement. In May this year JDA arrived and the pace of changeincreased”.“The second part-time Radiographer post was filled by a number of excellent young ladies - Jenny Bullivant, Hilary Smith,Stella Bowyer. Most of our radiographers left to have babies and many of them came back to us afterwards in a part-timecapacity and some are still with us. In 1971 we acquired a second part-time secretary, Rosemary Port, also from theagency and she is still with us, soon to retire (1990).“From about 1968 Registrars in training in Radiology came to the Children’s as part of their course and they are all nowconsultants.“The thing that stands out most in my recollections is the quality of the Radiographers. Their work was of a high standardunder very difficult conditions. No one grumbled about working too hard or too long and being such a small hospital therewas a very good rapport with the nursing staff, admin, domestics, porters - everyone employed on the site. The sameapplied to Sheila Clement and Rosemary Port when they were appointed secretaries One never had any demarcationdisputes or rivalries.“John Atwell and Neil Freeman provided us with a substantially increased workload of greater complexity. They drew inan enormous amount of surgical material, which required more radiological investigations, and all of us felt it was apleasure to work with such experts. Working in such a well-defined children’s unit gave us the nucleus to transfer bodily tothe General Hospital where we could so easily have been fragmented and separated from the body of Paediatrics.Looking back the accommodation and facilities were poor but no worse than those at the General and Royal South Hants.“The neonatal ward was next to the X-ray department which was very convenient as sister would pick up the very sickbabies and transport them for immediate radiology and back to the ward in no time at all. We learned how to handle thesesick infants with confidence and we also learned how to accommodate the increasing volume of cases with dispatch. Itwas the time when spina-bifida was treated aggressively - we did enormous numbers of micturating cystograms, IVPsand air encephalograms. Congenital abnormalities of the Gl and GU tracts also required radiological investigations bothbefore and after operation.“Medical paediatrics did not change in such a revolutionary manner - it was a case of more of the same. Prof Normand
and his team pointed us in the direction of academic disciplines; I think we had to adopt a more academic approach;although it is difficult to describe the changes we encompassed, I hope that we seized the opportunities to stretchourselves”.Radiography was seldom straightforward; Diana Claisse recalls doing micturating cystograms on small children often withassistance from young helpers from the ward “that with taps running, whistles and cold hands on the tummy, it was morelikely us that wanted to perform than the child,” while Ann Arscott remember’s Dr Caidwell’s Friday afternoon skin clinics -“he used our blackout facilities for detecting rigwur’m with UV light, the Xray room being bigger than the linen cupboard hehad to use if we were busy, We also had the occasional wart charming — he sent children along to Xr’ay - I pointed thexray tube at the offending wart without making an exposure. He seemed to think it was quite effective!”Pathology DepartmentDr Seager Thomas was appointed as Hon. Pathologist in 1925 but he died in 1934 being replaced by Dr Gleave who alsodied in office in 1952. Dr Steven Dobson from the General Hospital then supervised the Children’s Hospital until theappointment of Dr Joan Guy in 1957. A small laboratory in the attic was established in 1947 staffed by a part-timetechnician who became full time in 1949.Dr Joan Guy has recorded her own memories of the department:“When I arrived in Southampton at the end of 1957 it was suggested that having spent some years in paediatrics beforebecoming a pathologist, l might like to take an interest in the Children’s Hospital. The Path Lab was a small attic, ill-lit andill ventilated, perishingly cold in winter and unbearably hot in summer reached by a steep narrow flight of stairs. Therewas also a post-mortem room next to the mortuary in the old stable block down the garden. The less said about it thebetter and it was with no regret that it was abandoned in 1961 when the first new autopsy room at the General was built.This was certainly more hygienic though less convenient for the clinicians.A technician visited every afternoon to take blood samples, do simple blood counts and E.S.R.s and test urines. It wasquite obvious that this was inadequate so the first step was to increase her hours. The suggestion met with resistance inthe Pathology Deportment but the problem was soon solved when it became known that she was pregnant. In 1958pregnant technicians were rare in the laboratory and were considered an embarrassment, so full time work at theChildren’s Hospital was a form of honourable banishment and was agreed. This was the beginning of a real pathologyservice and by dint of scrounging old equipment we began to increase the range of work. An old incubator was found sourine and C.S.F. could be cultured and sensitivity tests done. When new microscopes were bought for the GerreralHospital one of their cast-off s was acquired and was much better than our previous one. Sheila stayed to the eighthmonth of her pregnancy with everyone becoming increasingly anxious about her negotiating those awful stairs carryingtrays of specimens.Hazel replaced Sheila: she was a senior technician, experienced in both haematology and bacteriology. She liked workingon her own and the scope of the work increased steadily. When the hospital was up-graded in the early 60’s we lookedfor a better site for the laboratory. A room was available in Oaklands next to the coal-hole. This room measuring aboutl0’x14’ became the lab and the coal-hole about 8’ square became the venesection room. A narrow passage leading intothe hall was blocked off and turned into a washing-up room and a small area of the hall with a door leading into the frontgarden blocked off to form the pathologist’s office. The whole suite was minute but compared with the attic it was palatial.It was painted pink and was convenient for Out-patients, though hazardous as the main door opened directly on to thedrive with a constant flow of traffic. Mercifully no-one was ever injured though it was highly dangerous.At this time the pathology service was being increasingly used by G.P.s so they were invited to send child patients toWinchester instead of to the General Hospital where children had been considered noisy, difficult and generallytroublesome. Work increased rapidly and the fight for extra staff began. A nurse-venesector came in the afternoons, thena secretary for two hours a day to type reports. She suffered from the antique typewriter we acquired but struggled on tilla better one became available. A great advance was the acquisition of a washer-up for 1 hour each morning. Thisrelieved the technician of the time-wasting chore of cleaning glassware. An ancient autoclave was found at the Generaland this terrifying piece of apparatus was installed and mastered with much trepidation. The hospital van called three orfour times a day to collect specimens. Chemistry results came back much faster. Frank, the van driver, became our greatally in spite of occasional fits of “temperament” that were hard to bear.This was a time of real pleasure for me, working on a one-to- one basis with some of our very best technicians. Hazel wassucceeded by Angela and then Della took over. These girls were superb, more like housemen. They were very skilled atvenepuncture and at times they succeeded in putting up drips where new housemen had failed. They were quick to spotthe ill child sent up by G.P.s and always took extra blood for relevant investigations that had not been requested to savethe child a further venepuncture. They learned to take histories of recent infections, diet and drugs and frequentlyelucidated the cause of an anaemia or purpura, sometimes to the chagrin of our clinical colleagues. They could sense anew leukaemia almost as the child came in through the door and would ask the parent to wait while they rushed the countand film through and telephoned me to come at once to confirm the diagnosis and take action. It became accepted thatthe technician post at Winchester Road was one with special responsibilities and we were allowed a junior as it wasthought to be such a good training post. When automated staining machines came on the market we put in for one and itwas a great success having a cycle time of 15 minutes. About the same time we also got a blood sugar analyser.
Page 3: FORWARDbyI.C.S.Normand. D.M. ,F.R.C
Page 7 and 8: In 1903 there was a donation of £5
Page 9 and 10: ubble of a house. However once the
Page 11 and 12: they could receive some schooling.
Page 13 and 14: very much in its infancy and little
Page 15: throughout the South and the Isle o
Page 19 and 20: enrolled for one year. At this time
Page 21 and 22: West Paediatric Club based on Brist
Page 23 and 24: ward of about 25 beds, in a separat
Page 25 and 26: This appointment although it was go
Page 27 and 28: neighbour had had an in-growing toe
Page 29 and 30: The house physicians assisted the v
Page 31 and 32: APPENDIX 1Medical StaffDr W. Maclea
Page 33 and 34: Lady Superintendent Later Matron.Mi
Page 35: Analysis of Admissions and Deaths f

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