It was obvious to me that in those days working alone and having very heavy patients to cope with often without a portable hoist I would now not be able to fulfil all the nursing duties required while working in the community. With this in mind I decided to return to hospital work and did some year’s night duty back on the male surgical ward. I worked four nights a week 8.00.p.m. to 8.00.a.m. which meant with three nights off I was able help my Mother and spend more time with her now that she was a widow.
Night Duty was still as busy as days because more often than not there would just be myself and either a junior nurse or Auxiliary to cope with my 26 beds and the adjacent eye ward of six beds which I had to supervise. Being an acute surgical ward we took twenty four hour emergency admissions and never knew one minute to the next what to expect.
One night I was asked to admit a young female patient because the ladies ward was over-flowing so found a bed for her in the side ward. When she arrived she was in severe pain and had been diagnosed by her GP with acute appendicitis. On helping her into bed I noticed she was a very well built young person especially round the tummy area and my suspicions became aroused as to her being in the wrong department. I had hardly bleeped the on call House Doctor when loud screams erupted from the side ward and I saw that a birth was imminent. It was a good thing I had midwifery experience because before the doctor could arrive a baby girl had come into this world and the population had increased by one!
Once I had the seventeen year old mother and baby transferred to the Maternity unit I needed to inform her parents they had a lovely grand -daughter. This was not an easy conversation as they had no idea their daughter was pregnant but life had to carry on and I spent the rest of the night tending the needs of my male patients!
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