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| 01 Born Cheshire 1926. Sir John Deane’s School. During war, nursing training outside Liverpool… | |
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| 02 …County Hospital, Whiston. Lectures & ward work interspersed. Trained 1943-7 – included diabetes. Then year in gynae ward. | |
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| 03 Midwifery training, Kingston on Thames. District midwifery, Warrington General. Health visitors’ course, UMIST. | |
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| 04 Health visitor in Widnes for 18th months. School visits. 1952 - Leicester City Health Dept. (City & County separate.) Problem families & 2 schools. Hospital liaison. No diabetes. | |
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| 05 1954 - Dr. Joan Walker wanted diabetics visited by health visitor at home. She taught me re diabetes at her home. I set up ‘health visitor for diabetes’ service in City. Walker had met resistance from male doctors at Royal Infirmary. | |
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| 06 I visited new patients & some elderly. Taught urine-testing & equipment care. Worked with district nurses. Supervised injections. | |
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| 07 Told we were wasted on diabetes - I said it used all our skills. Travelled on foot. Better to treat people at home than hospital. | |
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| 08 Told paediatrician to send girl home & I’d call next day. Worked from home - patients & doctors rang all hours. Patients admitted for less time. Children treated at home, except ketoacidosis. | |
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09 Better at home - usual energy use & diet.
Diagnosis a shock; then children did well.
Families found carbohydrate counting hard… | |
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10 …Confusing. Diets improved. We’d given wrong information.
Visited schools. Liaison with GPs. Helped consultants. | |
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| 11 Attended Infirmary clinics from 1954. Acquired own patient education rooms. Consultant back-up. Stayed 15 months, then changeover – not good, because specialist knowledge lost. Change to U100 insulin… | |
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12 …patients anxious.
One-year secondment not good idea. Needed continuity.
Importance of foot care & exercise. Children’s camps. Convalescent homes. | |
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13 Helped older patients. Urine test changes. Foot care. I miss children & elderly. We’d visit workplaces. Some patients keep in touch.
Fear of hypos at work. | |
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14 We helped workplaces & schools.
At home with my children, 1958-6, then general health visiting, then Infirmary again. John Hearnshaw on sabbatical. Joan Walker came out of retirement & retrained me. I stayed 21 years. | |
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16 1954-5 - rode Cyclemaster. Private patients, 1980s – no extra pay.
1970-91 – same work, different titles. | |
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17 1980s, City & County combined. More health visitors. Clinics in County towns – helped consultant & taught nurses & patients. Helped GPs set up clinics - would complications be detected as quickly? Eye photography at Infirmary. Worried GPs wouldn’t detect blindness.
Fewer amputations than in 1950s. | |
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| 18 Local clinics saved travel. Infirmary clinics getting bigger. Dr. Felix Burden arrived. Weekly patient teaching sessions at Coalville – included teenagers. Hinckley families raised money for islet cell transplants research. Blood-monitoring meters for children. | |
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| 19 Felix Burden up-to-date e.g. re painless injections, Asian diet. Clinics enormous after Ugandan Asians came – some joined Diabetic Assoc. & raised money. | |
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| 20 I was chairman of Leicester Diabetic Assoc. People from abroad came to see work. Diabetic Assoc forum for complaints & fund-raising. A community. All liked Dr. Walker. | |
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| 21 Mistakes - confusion over insulin strengths. Man given wrong insulin. Man misunderstood mark on syringe. Revived unconscious woman. | |
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22 Improvements – disposable syringes, pens, more known, more patients, more nurses - (I trained nurses & doctors re new equipment) – Glucagon, HypoStop, more aftercare, more dietary freedom & self-dosage.
Maybe less attention. We knew families well. | |
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23 Demanding work. Husband answered phone.
Home visiting enabled advice to suit family & detection of problems. People brought false specimens to clinics & children cheated. Important to be friend & professional. | |
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-t.jpg "In 1947 (on right)")
