'I learned how to be a good nurse at the Vicky' - Glasgow hospital memories

The old south side hospital has been turned into flats (a new building, just across the road, has taken its place) but one former nurse got in touch with Times Past all the way from the USA.

“I did my nurse training at the Vicky between 1967 and 1970, and a year later I left Glasgow to work at a hospital in Fort Worth Texas,” says Dorothy Head, nee Browne, adding with a laugh: “Just ‘for a year’ – I have been here now for 50!

“I met the man who was to become my husband in Texas and we’ve been married 46 years.

“I still have a lot of family in Glasgow, and in my heart I’ll always be a Glaswegian.

“I know the Victoria has closed but I keep in touch with several of the nurses I trained with, and we were wondering if anyone knows what happened to the large mosaic of a puma, which I think was the hospital’s logo back then, that used to be in the main entrance foyer?”

She adds: “Our badges – presented to us when we completed our training - had the puma on them too – I don’t know why? Maybe a Glasgow Times reader can help?”

This week and next in Times Past, we will be sharing Dorothy’s fantastic memories of nursing in Glasgow and America. Her moving tales of what it was like to be a student nurse in the city are bound to strike a chord with fellow nurses – get in touch if you have memories and photos to share.

Dorothy had always wanted to be a nurse, she says.

“Even when I was a wee girl, my dolls and my cat would be my ‘patients’,” she says. “I began my nurse training at the Victoria Infirmary at the tender age of seventeen and a half in 1967. After a few weeks in ‘training block’ we were let loose on the wards. At the time we were called Sister Doras, because of the plain cap we wore as part of our uniform. As a Sister Dora you were the lowest on the totem pole, emptying bedpans, giving out teas, helping to make beds.

“If you were lucky, a good senior or staff nurse would allow you to observe procedures. One highlight was when you’d been training for six months and you signed your contract with Matron supervising and you were allowed to get the much desired lace cap that only Victoria nurses had.”

Dorothy adds: “It was an oval piece of lace which you threaded through one edge and pulled to create a kind of lace fan, which you sat on top of a lace pillbox. We were so proud to finally be known as ‘lace caps’.”

After a year, the young nurses obtained a white collar which was attached to their pink frocks, says Dorothy.

“The frocks were actually covered in a very tiny red and white herringbone pattern but it looked like pink from a distance,” she smiles. “The collars were highly starched and irritated the neck, but again, they were proudly worn. Then we acquired our white cuffs as we entered our third year. We went on secondments to hospitals that had specialties the Victoria Infirmary did not have, like maternity and psychiatry.

“Once we passed our finals we became RGNs (Registered General Nurses) and our uniforms changed colour to grey-blue. That’s when we got our qualifying badges, which were round and blue with a puma in the centre, and a St Andrew’s Cross.”

Dorothy adds: “I have many wonderful memories of my time at the Victoria and I met and trained with some great girls and great doctors. Some of us have remained good friends even though we’re all across the world.”

Dorothy has many fond memories of both emotional moments and mischief-making at the Vicky.

“We had secret tea parties with other nurses on night duty and you just hoped the night sister wouldn’t come back for a surprise visit after rounds,” she smiles.

“We worked with many sisters, some of whom could really make your life misery. I remember one Sister Dora coming into the nurse’s lounge in tears long after her shift should have ended, because the sister in the ward made her stay late to make sure all the wheels on all the beds were facing the same way….

“Several of us watched the Apollo moon landing while we were on night duty in the day room in July, 1969.”

She laughs: “One of the crazy traditions was when a nurse or resident was leaving you threw them in the bath…”

There were tough times, too, Dorothy recalls.

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“I was on duty when the Ibrox football disaster happened in 1971,” she says, referring to the tragedy in which 66 fans lost their lives.

“The fans had started leaving the game thinking their team had lost, but just as most of them got to the top of the seats there was a goal, and the crowd turned round - so many people, including some kids, got crushed. Some of the injured were brought to the Victoria and I stayed late to see if I could be of any help.

“Some of our sisters and doctors from casualty went out to the football park to give trauma first aid.”

Dorothy adds: “All of us had to deal with the fact that patients died. We were so young to deal with such things. I remember an elderly gentleman whose wife had just died, gently saying to her, ‘goodbye, Margaret’.

“It was hard, but I learned how to be a good nurse at the Victoria - how to be disciplined, compassionate and wise.”

Did you train at Glasgow’s old Victoria Infirmary? Do Dorothy’s stories spark any memories for you?

Get in touch with Times Past to share yours.