NHS 75: A family affair

Working in Poole Hospital, and born in Poole Hospital to parents who met at Poole Hospital, we speak to Ellen Sinden about her NHS story….

I started working in Poole in 1998 when I completed my pre-registration year as a pharmacist with Boots. The pharmacy was next to the old main entrance and you used to stand at the long wooden bench, dispensing and checking prescriptions while gazing out on to Longfleet Road. There was always a lot of excitement when the fire engine arrived, likely to an occasion of burnt toast!

In those days you wore white lab coats and used light counters to count out tablets from large dispensing pots. There was a dumbwaiter like lift system that bought drugs up from he pharmacy stores and jars of leeches and packs of maggots to treat things like skin ulcers.

Now the lab coats have been replaced with dark scrub tops, the light counters have been taken over by pre-packed packs of tablets and dispensing robots now store and deliver the tablets to the dispensing bench. And no leeches

….but this is not when it started for my family. Thirty years earlier, in 1968, Nurse Rumens (my mum aged 18) and Nurse Sinden (my dad aged 22) were just starting their nurse training at Poole Hospital. They were enrolled in the two-year ‘state enrolled nursing’ (SEN) course, rotating round different areas under the watchful eye of the sister.

Ellen's parents: Nurse Rumens, far left, and Nurse Sinden, centre

Mum’s accommodation was in ‘tampax towers’ as it was fondly called and there was a firm midnight curfew. There was a strict uniform policy  - stiff, starch cleaned clothes – and your appearance was regularly inspected by the sister and matron.

My mum’s rotation into outpatients was bought to a halt when my dad (who had bad asthma at the time and wasn’t allowed into theatres) was transferred into her slot. This disappointment couldn’t have lasted long as shortly after this they were married! After the wedding, mum visited her patients in her wedding dress and gave out wedding cake.

Dad started working on A2 which was a trauma ward dealing mainly with road traffic accidents. He moved into Coronary Care (CCU) and was there until he passed away in October 1998. People have fond memories of my dad smoking his pipe while walking up the corridor!

…. back to the present day and I am still working at Poole Hospital, now as a practitioner within rheumatology. Changes are always happening within the NHS, and aren’t easy, but we should be extremely proud of the NHS’ achievements. After all, it’s where my parents met and is why I’m here today!

Ellen Sinden, practitioner in rheumatology