South Yorkshire Times, December 25th 1943
Group of Nurses to whom prizes were presented at the Montagu Hospital on Saturday by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Sheffield University (second from right, seated). Also In the group is the Matron (Miss O’Callaghan).
Hospital Prize Day
Commendable Innovation at Mexborough
Described as a landmark in the development of Mexborough Montagu Hospital, the first annual prize distribution to nurses attending the Hospital’s training school took place on Saturday. Professor G. A. Clark, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sheffield, distributed the prizes.
Mr. A. R. Martin, Chairman of the Board of Governors, who presided, mentioned that the training school had been in operation about three years. He said that they were determined, in view of the great shortage of nurses throughout the country, affecting the work of all institutions and that, if at all possible, they should begin their own nurses training school. They got the approval of the General Nursing Council, and started three years ago, and some nurses had now got through the whole of their training, and had taken the State Examination. Four nurses had gone right through the school with their training, and these along with two others who had joined the staff more recently were now State Registered Nurses. In addition, 14 student nurses took the preliminary State Examination, and nine of them had been successful. They considered this very satisfactory. Congratulating the nurses, he said he looked forward to other nurses continuing their studies and qualifying. He congratulated the Matron, Sister-Tutor, doctors, and all who had helped to make the training school a success.
Mr. Martin mentioned that a number of girls were present who were attending the preliminary training classes at the Schofield Technical College, and he said they were looking forward to these girls completing their course at the College, entering the training school, and eventually blossoming out as State Registered Nurses.
Mexborough-Sheffield Link
Professor Clark referred to the close link between Mexborough Hospital and the voluntary hospitals in Sheffield, and said he hoped those links would be forged still stronger in future. That day was a landmark in the development the Montagu Hospital. Their pre-training nursing school at Mexborough was indeed a great advancement. There had been established classes which bridged the gap between the school leaving age and the age at which student nurses could be admitted to their training school. They had been trying to do that in Sheffield, and he thought that very soon they would succeed in establishing a similar arrangement.
He congratulated Mexborough on already having theirs in being. Mexborough could be justly proud of the first batch of students, having been 100 per cent successful. Six entered and six passed, and four of those they could look upon as Mexborough’s nurses. They might not stay at Mexborough for ever, but they were going out into the world as trained in Mexborough. They had got to establish a reputation for Mexborough, so they had a great responsibility. He had not the slightest doubt that they would establish a reputation, and that reputation would go on from strength to strength as the years went on.
Congratulating those responsible for teaching the nurses, Professor Clark said it was sometimes rather surprising to find how many people imagined that a hospital was just somewhere where sick and injured people were made whole and hale again. But it was not only that, and they had shown this by the establishment of their nursing training school, which was an essential part of any hospital which hoped to establish itself. Just as nurses need to be trained, so they needed to train doctors in hospitals under expert guidance and tuition. If there was to be an increase of doctors, as was foreshadowed by legislation, and they were to be trained, he hoped they might see in the near future the Montagu Hospital proceeding to the training of medical students and young doctors.
Prevention and Cure
Professor Clark said the ultimate aim of scientific medicine was to keep the whole population as fit and healthy as they could be, to promote sound health not merely by curing people when they were sick but by preventing disease. If they were to prevent disease, they had got to know a great deal more about disease than they did at present. They could only learn by investigation and attention to all kinds of disease. Research was an essential duty of a hospital and took a great deal of time while the results were often disappointing. They could not expect a medical man, overburdened with routine duties to carry out serious research. He felt that any hospital that did not afford opportunities for men to carry out research was failing future generations. He would hasten to add that not everybody was capable by examination or training of becoming a useful research worker. A hospital must attract the right type by giving the best facilities available.
Referring to reforms in education, including that for nurses, Professor Clark said there was always something of value to be learnt from the cradle to the grave, and anyone who did not appreciate that fact could not be educated. The nurse was trained, and developed her natural desire for knowledge, and could be taught to get that desire for knowledge from books, by service, and in general operations and practical work. Professor Clark added that he had no doubt they would build well on the foundations they had successfully laid down in the last three years. The Chairman regretted the unavoidable absence of Coun. P. B. Nicholson, J.P. who had worked hard for the introduction of the nursing class, and said Mr. Nicholson had given a guinea for a prize for a nurse, the nature of the prize to be decided by the Matron.
County Coun. A. Fouchard, who proposed a vote of thanks to Professor Clark, said a number of members of the County Council had pressed for the raising of the standard of nurses, not only from the academic point of view, but also in the financial return they received for service in such a noble profession. Having overcome difficulties in the inauguration of the training school, they had been concerned as to whether it would be a success, but the results had fully substantiated the confidence they had when they started the school. He hoped girls from the local Secondary School would train in the school so that Mexborough would have a reputation for training nurses good enough to enter any hospital. Mr. R. Dayson seconded the vote of thanks.
Prizes were received by the following: Finals: 1, Nurse Winfrow: 2, Nurse Brown. 2nd Year: 1, Nurse Clifford; 2, Nurse Milner and Nurse Shelton (tie); 3, Nurse Gibson, 3rd 1 Year: 1, Nurse Beevers; 2, Nurse O’Connor. Nurses’ prizes: 1, Nurse O’Connor, 2 Nurse Wray, Practical Nursing: 1 Nurse Gibson (second year), 2 Nurse Willey (first year).