WYN Thorn of Birkdale was a young nurse working in Southport when the NHS was born in 1948.
Her career in healthcare had begun in January 1946, when the then Wyn Lovelady began her training at the old Southport Infirmary in Scarisbrick New Road.
“Those were the days when you weren’t allowed out after 10 o’clock and you had to live in the nurses’ home when you were training,� said Wyn, 80.
She remembered her matron at the time as “a lovely person – strict but fair�.
Nursing was not Wyn’s first job and she had previously been a shorthand typist in her hometown of Crosby.
Her new work was far from lucrative, with the sum of £1 and sixpence in her first pay packet.
Wyn, of Rivington Close, said: “It did go up a bit when the National Health Service came in, but they took a lot off us [in tax etc]. I used to cycle home to Crosby to save money.�
Shifts at the Infirmary could also be gruelling, frequently requiring Wyn to top the 48 hour-weeks set out in her training contract.
“You often worked over your hours, such as when the flu epidemic was on, when I worked for six weeks without a break,� she recalled.
Wyn left the Infirmary in 1950 for the birth of her first child, but returned to the NHS in the 1960s to work on the spinal unit at the old Promenade Hospital.
She also became a practice nurse at the Duke Street surgery of GP Dr Ryan, before finishing her career as a ward sister at Hesketh Park Hospital – a post-operative convalescent institution based where the Hesketh Centre now stands.
Cleaning on wards was still a responsibility of nurses when Wyn began her career, and she was particularly critical of one change over the past 60 years.
“I feel that doing away with matrons was the worst thing they did, as the matron had charge over everything – the nurses, the domestic staff, the catering,� she said.
Today, Wyn retains her connection with the health service as chairman of Sefton St John Ambulance Fellowship, which serves ex-members of the order.
Retired nurse Wyn Thorn
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