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

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stood outside the front of the hospital. I was then very pregnant so one of the nurses lent me her cloakBursledon in 1956Sandra Walker aged 11 was in Bursledon with rheumatic fever for 4 months. “We used to go for walks, 10 minutes at first,but increasing by 10 minutes at intervals. We were taken down by the river, through the fields, which was a greatexperience. If we felt we had run about too much, we used to rush to put our wrists under a cold tap in the hope ofbringing our pulse rate down before the nurse could check it. We kept silkworms, which fed on the leaves of the mulberrytree by the entrance. We used to wind the fine silk from the cocoons. Sometimes, at night, my bed would be wheeled intothe hall because I kept the other children awake by talking too much. I still do!” Sandra’s elder sister, Pat, was also apatient in Bursledon in 1949 she remembers being warned that if you went upstairs you would encounter the big blackwasherwomen who would grab you and take you away.Hospital GhostsMost hospitals have their ghosts and Southampton Children’s was no exception. Several nurses recall hearing footstepson the stairs outside Ward II while on night duty but Mary who was a S.E.N.. at the time had a more frighteningexperience. “I was busy with babies feeds at 3 am, on the Gastro-enteritis ward. All was very still in the cubicle; the streetlight was as bright as ever, when a very eerie atmosphere developed. I felt intensely aware of something very frighteningand sinister behind me. The window there overlooked the old Vicarage lawn but I dared not turn in that direction for fear ofwhat I might see. When I asked the sister on Surgical (Sister Hodges), when taking up the night report, if she was awareof this happening, I was a bit surprised to be told never to look over the next garden if this atmosphere occurred again asthere had been some terrible happening in the past. I think she said that someone had been murdered and some horribleapparition had been seen there since.”Casualty staff to the rescue.A memorable event occurred in 1957 when one afternoon an emergency call was received that a man working on the firstfloor of a new building up the road had been seriously injured when a reinforced concrete girder snapped and two of thesteel rods had transfixed him through his abdomen. Sister Jenny Tutcher and Dr Bridget Jepson immediately rushed toassist. They had to make a very precarious climb across the framework of girders to give first aid, The man made acomplete recovery.Nurse Coady and Sister Tutor’s Cat.Miss Morgan remembers when her tortoiseshell cat ‘Bunty’ disappeared one evening and was located high up in a treenear the nurses’ home. Flo Coady, dressed to go home, climbed a ladder with a plate of fish, which she held up at arm’slength. In grabbing the cat she dropped the plate of fish. Later when travelling home in the bus she was aware that otherpassengers were commenting on her but it was not until she had reached home that she found a large slice of fish stillsitting on her shoulder!The Newly-wed Houseman.When we appointed Dr James Scobie as R. M.O. we had no idea that he was about to get married ... “I shall never forgetthe day I arrived at the Children’s Hospital. It was January 1st 1962, the day after my wedding and it was snowing.Bursledon seemed a very gloomy place. My wife went back to her work in London the following day, and I started workingwith chronically ill children.The Children’s Hospital itself was very busy, especially in winter time. There were two consultant paediatricians. DrGeorge Ormiston was a Scot with a fund of amusing stories and a reputation for severity. Dr David Williamson was moreprogressive. His life seemed very varied; one moment visiting gipsy children under a tarpaulin in the forest, the nextattending the offspring of grand lords in great hooses interspersed with visits to hospitals in Winchester and Alton.There was a very competent registrar, Dr Eric Jones, and a succession of house physicians The junior doctors shared arota involving working at Bursledon, the Children’s Hospital and the infectious fever unit at the Chest Hospital.My wife used to come down on alternate week-ends when I was on duty, and we were always getting into trouble with thehospital authorities; hanging washing out to dry (forbidden), and complaining about the guest supplement, which includeda fee for having someone else in the one narrow bed, although not even a second towel was provided.At the beginning of March we hired, through the almoner, a caravan which we kept, with a licence from the Verderers, inan open meadow on the upper reaches of the river Beaulieu, south of Ashurst. It was isolated with only occasionalwalkers passing by, though ponies would wake us up at night, scratching themselves on the corners of the caravan.Meanwhile I was learning a lot about sick children. There had been some cases of smallpox brought by visiting seamen,so there was a big vaccination campaign. Two children with eczema developed the generalised form of vaccinia from thevaccination and both died. The only other deaths during the seven months that I worked at the Children’s Hospital werefrom leukaemia, effective treatment for which was just beginning.
The house physicians assisted the visiting surgeons, Mr Richardson and Mr Rowntree operating on appendicitis, pyloricstenosis and hernias and that made a break from the routine of ward rounds and clinics and was a useful preparation formy next job as a medical officer in Uganda.”The Head Teacher remembers the Bursledon Hospital School.“The 1944 Education Act for the first time mentioned ALL children, which meant that the generous voluntary work ofeducating sick children became the responsibility of the local education authorities.Hampshire Education Authority responded to a request from the Hospital Management Committee and provided a schoolat the newly opened Bursledon Annexe Initially there was a headteacher and one other full time teacher with some parttimehelp for the nursery age children. In 1962 the staff increased to three full time teachers.There were three wardsdownstairs, which, with the moving of a few beds, could be organised into secondary, junior and infant classes. The staffroom and storeroom were on the very top floor and most of the necessary equipment was carried up and down daily. Theschool hours were from 10 a.m. to noon and 2 pm. till 3 p.m. This gave the nurses time for treatments and the children amidday rest period. The early finish was for the benefit of visitors who were encouraged to come out of school hours. Thehead teacher was given a daily ‘schoolbook’ which was a useful record of the state health of the children. There seemedto be little intteraction between nursing and school staff.There were three head teachers during the first fifteen years: I was the fourth being appointed in 1967 and staying until1989 and it was during tny time that major changes took place. A new position was created by the Hampshire EducationAuthority, and Mrs P. Clifford was appointed Administrator for Special Education and, at the same time, Mr Freddie Greenfirst Advisor for Special Education. These two people were a formidable and much respected team. They gave mesupport and encouragement for my philosophy and future plans for the school. (Staff were able to attend in- servicetraining, including, for some, a year of advanced academic study at Southampton University.)One of the early changes brought about by the new administrator was the creation of a Governing Body for the school asapparently there had been no legally constituted team for the head teacher to approach with new ideas. Within the earlyyears, Mr A Moody of the local firm of yacht builders was elected chairman, and he supported and guided the school fortwenty years.However the most important change was the advancement of medical science which altered thinking with regard tohospital care for sick children. These changes showed in many ways. Most children at Bursledon were ambulant andwore their own clothes The beautiful grounds were used both in school and free time. By the mid 1970s the school hourswere those of a normal school and the children were taught in a separate school building provided by the educationauthority. A new department of the school was later opened in the Paediatric wards at the General Hospital.At Bursledon more and more children with emotional problems were admitted. The variety of people working with thesechildren altered the style of teaching and nursing. Psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers emphasised the need todiscuss each child carefully before action was taken. Teaching staff were drawn more and more into the working life ofthe hospital. The appointment of Dr Jean Davis as clinical assistant responsible for Bursledon was a great asset. Sheheld weekly meetings with the Sister in Charge and the head teacher plus anyone else with a professional interest in thechildren, This meeting was vital. The increase in inter-disciplinary meetings and the need to produce written reportsmeant the school needed proper secretarial help. The head teacher was also given extra teaching staff so that liaisontime was possible without depriving the children. The school was able to take more professional visitors on a regularbasis. These were the good years.The last chapter of the school at Bursledon was being written. The numbers of children coming there fell belowacceptable levels. There were staff cuts and those who were left were dispirited. Even so, those remaining put on a livelyparty to mark the closure in February 1989.Over the years Bursledon had provided a truly loving atmosphere to promote recovery. The school had played it’s part incaring and restoring the children’s confidence, preparing them for their return home. They were matured and helped byexperiences which no other place could have given them,There are so many people who remember their time there; patients and staff alike. There are stories of dens in thebamboo clump or under the mulberry tree. Do you remember the numbers of children who got stuck up trees? Whosneaked into the girls ward one night and decorated them intimately with toothpaste? Who climbed the front of thebuilding and alarmed the teachers quietly marking books in the turret room? In the spring there were the inevitable rowsof graves of buried fledglings with suitable floral tributes. How many town children were delighted to see their firstgoldfinch or the old fox lying in the sun. So many of them were amazed to play free on the grass; often families wouldpicnic on the lawn and one Dutch family actually camped in the grounds while their child recovered from meningitis. It hasbeen said by the more articulate that despite the illness and pain, being in Bursledon was a magical time.
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 and 16: throughout the South and the Isle o
Page 17 and 18: and his team pointed us in the dire
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: neighbour had had an in-growing toe
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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