WE HAVE all been there – nine-year-old George Davidson looks a little unsure as his dentist checks out his teeth in 1950.
Healthcare in Glasgow has moved on in leaps and bounds over the last few decades, as these great images from our archives demonstrate.
The young woman captured in the new brain X-ray apparatus at the Southern General in 1970 looks as apprehensive as George.
This groundbreaking piece of equipment used a ‘gamma camera’ - an intensified image of the brain is displayed on the TV monitor on the left when the camera is switched on.
It was a tough time for kids in hospital – until 1951, strict rules meant they were only allowed to see their parents for an hour on Saturdays and Sundays.
They were frequently placed in adult wards, too, until paediatricians Sir James Spence in Newcastle and Alan Moncriff at Great Ormond Street made considerable steps to change the situation.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s archive reveals the Health Service in the Clyde area in 1948 consisted of nine hospitals and interestingly, hospital wards were known as the ‘Florence Nightingale wards’.
An important early experiment in nurse education was carried out in Glasgow, when, in 1957, Miss Edith Manners launched the Glasgow Royal Infirmary experimental training course for nurses.
Nurses’ uniforms have changed significantly too.
The archive records: “The uniform in the early days consisted of a white dress which consisted of rigid starched collar and cuffs.
“An apron was also worn, which was easily changed if dirty and the hat was always to be sitting perfectly in a butterfly style.”
The equipment and the uniforms may have changed, but the dedication and hard work far and beyond the call of duty is still the lynchpin of our marvellous NHS.
Do any of these photographs spark memories for you? Were you a nurse in the 50s? Get in touch and share your tales and pictures.
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