Medical Tales

Humour and Compassion make wonderful medicine - by Peter Sykes, Medical Novelist, Blogger and Speaker

Christmas Day in Hospital in days gone by

For those of us who lived or worked in hospital in the 60s and 70s Christmas Day was a memorable experience thanks to the great efforts made by the staff to create a cheerful  atmosphere for those unfortunate enough to be ill and away from home at this special time. On Christmas morning the hospital […]

Read more

Marilyn – every hospital has one

How well I remember my first sight of Marilyn, wearing her pristine pink overall as she bent over the deep ward kitchen sink; arms and elbows deep in soap suds.  Never was the phrase ‘they have a face as if they are chewing a wasp’ more appropriate; indeed she looked as if she had not only chewed the […]

Read more

Ingarsby Lane

Ingarsby Lane is a common walk for dogs and their owners, a post lunch stroll for conscientious professionals walking off the calories and for young lovers wanting to get out of parental homes.  It’s a place for sharing secrets, quarrels, making-up, breaking-up, coming to terms with loss, thinking about new arrivals, new places and empty […]

Read more
volunteer van

My time as a volunteer nurse in the 1960s

The year was 1969 and I was keen to train as a nurse. My two children, a boy and a girl, were now of an age and growing up, allowing me time and energy to plan a career. I was living in Perth at the time and an advert in the local paper just fell […]

Read more
img

My ‘1980s experience as a student nurse’

I started my nurse training at Park Hospital, Davyhulme in August 1985. It was not quite the days of Matron, aprons, starched hats and silver belt buckles – although the latter two were holding out in some quarters. It was still very hierarchical but informality was beginning to replace the rigid structure of old. It […]

Read more