Working As Staff Nurse At Western Infirmary

A Memory of Glasgow.

I worked as a staff nurse at this fine hospital for several years in the sixties. I was hired to work in the Renal Unit-however, it had not yet opened when I started. I was put to work wherever extra hands were needed until it did.

I worked Friday, Saturday & Sunday nights as I was married with a baby. I remember my husband driving up this approach to drop me off for night duty. It was a great place to work, with marvellous experience - I learned at the "scene of the accident" as we all did then. I nursed Glasgow's first kidney transplant patient, whom I will never forget. I remember being sent out in an ambulance in 1968 (I believe) when a tenement building collapsed during the night of the "Great Storm". There was a tremendous sense of camaraderie between co-workers at the Western - we all helped each other without regard to rank or job e.g. the nuses would give the cleaner a hand if her workload was too great. Similarly, we all mucked in when Casualty was packed with all kinds of emergencies to get the job done. We had walk-in cases, accident victims, victims of crimes etc. There were always police in casualty - either with victims or perpetrators (allegedly). It was never dull.

My husband, a graduate of Glasgow University School Of Medicine also worked here post-grad & looks back fondly on his time at the Western.