Royal Curtseys and Red Books - Celebrating the GOSH nurse bond

Nurses have always been at the forefront of shaping Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) to be the incredible hospital it is today. International Nurses Day celebrates our nurses’ achievements and their dedicated service to society.We caught up with Lynne, Teresa, Jane and Kate, who all trained at GOSH in the 80’s. They gave us an insight into what GOSH was like 30 years ago...

They had all been interested in child nursing and were keen to train at GOSH (or G.O.S as they call it!) because of its impressive reputation.

"I always knew I wanted to work with children and when applying for places to train, I just knew it had to be Great Ormond Street, and the rest is history", says Teresa.

The four met on their first day, when they moved into the nurses’ home on Guilford Street, a building at the back of the hospital that is now used for teaching. They remember Great Ormond Street Hospital to be a very different place to what it is now.

"30 years ago, the hospital was very cramped and quite tired looking. There used to be very long corridors with little wooden desks at the end. We had no computers just red files." explains Jane.

"A big difference between GOSH now and then was the space, there was a very small amount of parent accommodation back then", says Teresa. "Parents and siblings would be staying on the ward and they’d just be sleeping on little fold out beds which we’d have to step over in the night."

Lynne, Teresa, Jane and Kate spent 50% of their time in the classroom and 50% on the wards. However they were trusted with a lot more responsibility than most trainee nurses these days.

"We were very young and we hadn't been nursing very long, but we were looking after very sick children. We were learning on the job as well as in the classroom", explains Jane. "When I was only about 18, I was working a night shift looking after babies who’d had open heart surgeries. Very suddenly one of them started deteriorating and they quickly opened its chest and started doing internal cardiac massage, the priest was there, and I was very shocked. It’s an experience that’s really stayed with me".

Despite the emotional and physical challenges of training in a highly specialised children’s hospital, Lynne, Teresa, Jane and Kate all have very fond memories of their time at GOSH.

"At my graduation ceremony, Princess Diana gave us our certificates, so we had to learn how to curtsey! We usually wore pink dresses and hats, but when we qualified, we got frilly hats and red buckled belts which we were very proud of," says Teresa.

"I’m still in touch with a family that I looked after at the end of my first year of training whilst working on cardiac intensive care," begins Kate. "They had been brought over from Germany and because I can speak German, I bonded with them. I remember on a few occasions I had to interpret for the consultant and the family. Unfortunately, their baby passed away but we’ve kept in touch, and they always send me a Christmas card."

"We used to talk about ghosts in the building quite a lot, the story was that if you were holding a baby on a night shift and you started to nod off to sleep, the grey lady would come and tap you on the shoulder and wake you up!", says Jane.

GOSH has always had a renowned reputation. Lynne, Teresa, Jane and Kate recall the pride that came with working there.

"We had great training, everyone was very impressed when they found out we were from GOSH as it was so prestigious", says Lynne. "I will always remember GOSH’s slogan 'The Child First and Always'. It was drilled into us at GOSH and I have carried it through my career. It wasn’t something that we had to think about, it was more than just the trust value, it was just the norm."

"People in charge always used to say we need a real nurse, they wanted us girls in the pink uniforms", says Teresa. "I remember getting an ambulance once just after we finished training, and once I’d got in, the ambulance crew said: 'We take your lead now - everything you say goes!' They were serious, they saw our expertise as very valuable."

"Although we were focusing day to day on more specialist elements of health care, our training instilled in us the importance of the basics. Those basics have been the foundation for the rest of my career", says Jane.

The infamous Di Robertshaw trained their set between 1984 and 1987, and still works at the hospital today after more than 45 years.

"She always had that laid-back approach. We all trusted her and we respected her knowledge", says Kate.

"A fond memory of mine is when I had to retake an assessment and Di was my assessor, she was so lovely to me and restored my faith that I was capable."

"Di always took a personal interest in us. She took us down to the book shop on Lambs Conduit Street to buy our text books on our first day", reminisces Lynne.

Nurses at GOSH and across the whole of the NHS hold an incredible sense of community and support.

"One of the amazing things is that 35 years later our whole set is pretty much still in touch. We made some amazingly strong friendships that exist till this day", says Jane.

"If it wasn’t for GOSH, we wouldn’t know each other", added Kate.

"We weren’t just classmates or colleagues, we were more than that. We were really good friends. We lived together and we supported each other like a family", says Lynne.

Header image: To celebrate International Nurses Day, Lynne, Teresa, Kate, Jane and Di were photographed in the hospital chapel by renowned photographer Ranald Mackechnie (https://www.ranaldmac.com/)