Part 2 Still working as a District Nurse

On another occasion I was attending an elderly gentleman who was confined to bed and needed a visit night and morning. When I arrived at his house one morning his wife met me in tears saying “he died in the night” I was truly amazed as her husband had seemed a long way from heaven the evening before.
I went in and tried to console the poor lady but became even more concerned when she told me she had buried him in the back garden! Mobile phones were not in use in those days so I said I would drive to the nearest phone box. I was just leaving the house when the good lady asked when I was going to wash her husband as he was waiting for his breakfast.  Feeling by this time as though I needed to change my vocation to psychiatric training I asked who was buried in the garden. When she said it was her little dog I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry with relief.

Working in the community was my first experience of seeing how much better maggots could work on a bad leg ulcer than daily dressings. I was appalled when I removed a ladies dressing to be confronted with a whole nest of maggots but amazed to see how clean the ulcer crater was. I redressed the patient’s leg and later spoke to her doctor who said although the maggots were due to lack of cleanliness they had done a much better job than I could ever have done and if it happened again not to be concerned. I read in medical articles today that maggots have been re-introduced in some hospitals to deal with chronic conditions of dead tissue likewise have leeches.

My work in the community consisted of morning and tea-time visits and one evening on my way home along Hastings sea-front I was involved in a three car pile-up through no fault of my own. I suffered a very bad whip lash injury but managed to drive home to Fairlight. Overnight the pain became very severe so I asked a friend to take me to the accident and emergency department where I was x-rayed and found to have fractured my fourth cervical vertebrae.

Initially I was admitted as an in- patient until it was evident there was no spinal cord injury but then allowed home for physiotherapy treatment and a two month spell of sick leave.

During this time I had to undergo a big dispute with my employers to prove that although I was on my way home which was where I started and finished my working day I was in fact still on duty until reaching  home. Until this was proven my accident could not be considered an industrial accident.

Fortunately I was a member of a health service union and had their complete backing by representing me at my tribunal. It was proven by my union representative that as I had my “tools of trade” namely nursing bag in my car I was in fact still on duty. I have my union to thank for a small industrial pension for life which I would not be in receipt of without their intervention. My case is somewhere now in a reference manual which can be used in work related injury disputes.