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Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Sakura and Dennis, have only just found this post, I work with Mr Oates Jnr now, your Mr Oates son, who is an ENT consultant, I remember Mr Oates senior from occasional visits to the QE whilst I was training at Selly Oak.
Sue
 
Hi all. I am not sure if I successfully posted my thoughts yesterday so if this is a repeat then apologies. I trained at the QE from 1980 - 1982 and worked there for 15 years. How time flies. I have lots of lovely memories. It was exciting times leaving home and moving into Nuffield House. Does anyone remember Mrs Russell. We were all her little angels and she had one rule. "You wouldnt do it in your own home so dont do it in mine"!!!
I left nursing before the developments were under way for the new hospital. Seeing the new hospital now is amazing. I did love the old QE though. What will happen to the the old building? It will be nice to share the memories with other like minded people.
 
Hi Sue. That is great to hear Mr Oats son is now a consultant, I remember a number of the doctors and wonder whether they are still alive.
Today on BBC World News which we watch on TV over here, they were interviewing I think the Director of the QE as Malala Yousafzai, the 14 year old Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban had just arrived at the QE. Both our children were born there in Maternity in 1972 and 1975, it was a great hospital. I really don't think the hospitals here are even today as clean and modern as the QE was then. Certainly care is not as good due to the many changes in administration and I really don't think the training is as good. Is the training for the nurses as good today in the UK as it was in the 1960's or 70's? Maybe that is hard to judge if you were not working in the hospital then.
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Mo
 
Hi all. I am not sure if I successfully posted my thoughts yesterday so if this is a repeat then apologies. I trained at the QE from 1980 - 1982 and worked there for 15 years. How time flies. I have lots of lovely memories. It was exciting times leaving home and moving into Nuffield House. Does anyone remember Mrs Russell. We were all her little angels and she had one rule. "You wouldnt do it in your own home so dont do it mine"!!!
I left nursing before the developments were under way for the new hospital. Seeing the new hospital now is amazing. I did love the old QE though. What will happen to the the old building? It will be nice to share the memories with other like minded people. Quote of Ruth A Kirk

I was a student between 1960 - 64. What lovely days they were but we were educated in a very strict manner. The tutors barks were worse than their bite, and actually were really up for a joke or two planted on them! PTS days were especially memorable (PTS 210).
I have always been proud of my student days at QE together with the General Hospital, Childrens and Womens Hospital. It wasn't long ago that I took myself on a trip down Memory Lane. My where have all the green meadows gone that made QE stand out proud that you see from long distances around.
It was hard work, but intermingled with lots of fun - how could it not be with all the medical students milling around and the regular Hops in the University. And gosh when I think of the Nurses Balls held in Nuffield House. I found "The QE Nurse" in the now library. Although it was before my time 1939 it hardly had changed. In fact the cover depicts a picture of the 1960 PTS girls crossing the road between Nuffield House and the Hosp. That was us!
Well, its all changed. It set up a good base for my Nursing Profession, and you simply can't forget those days.
 
Anne - I was a ward clerk on ward 5 at the General with Sister Roberts from about 1966 to Jan 1969 after I had got married.
Before that I was in Xray for about 2 years.
I remember the Residents Show that they put on in the lecture theatre at the General each year. My friend and I were laughing so much as we came down the stairs one year and we bumped into the Matron by her office. Next morning I was called to her office and given a lecture on drinking and laughing too much. What was even funnier I don't drink and didn't then but do you think she would believe me?
The medical students played a prank each year in their final week. One year they bricked Matrons office door up from the corridor, she had another one she entered her office but when she went into the hospital used the door they had blocked. Somehow they got a VW car behind the snack bar in the main hall one year and another year took up all the coloured tape that had been put down to guide people to emergency from the main hall. We never knew what they would do next.
As you say you just can't forget those days!
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When were you at the General?
Sue - are you a Sister at the QE going by your user name? Mo
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Mo, no, I never worked at the QE, trained in Northampton as pre-basic Orthopaedic student 78-80, then at Selly Oak from 1980 -84, but we did our neuro placement at QE as well as transplant unit if we requested, which I did, that's how I know it.My friend at work, Susan Allan - nee Burn - trained at the QE as an EN think 1982 ish, she lived in there and at the General in town.
We both work out in Tamworth at the Sir Robert Peel hospital now, but have many fond memories of our training back in the 80's.
The training now is so different, my daughter qualified 3years ago and most of her training was Uni based, with few placements, wrong to my way of thinking, but the training now is a bit better, it is a degree stil but with a 50:50 split uni to placement, so they will have more ward experience.
Lovely memories though, have you been on the QEwebsite and looked in the archive photos, if it is still the same, there were loads of pics from QE and Selly Oak. I was lucky enough to go to the reunion meeting when they were moving most of the work from Selly Oak to QE, so saw a lot of them then, one of my friends worked at Selly Oak and is now at the QE and managed to get us invites and o look round the new hospital before it opened.
Sue
 
Hi, call me cynical if you like, but having worked in the Ambulance Service during the 80's & 90's, before I ended up leaving, (to care for dying family members), I saw a lot of Corporate Profiteering sneaking in based upon B'ham's Hospitals. Several, including the QE, were allowed to deteriorate in order to give more weight to the argument for replacement. However, when closure and 'replacement' happened, it wasn't what had been promised, nor people expected. Take the case of the Rubery Hill Hospitals site. The Joseph Sheldon, John Connolly and Hollymoor Hospitals. Each there for a reason, each doing a wonderful job for the more vulnerable in our society. But, as is said in the Original posting, they stood in acres of green fields, and there were several 'businessmen' keen to get their paws on that. Today, we have the 'Great Park' ... where are all those psychiatric patients?( Not in the 18 bed 'new' block at the QE),The Elderly or special needs children? Did those 'businessmen' care?
The QE, had a fortune spent on the Neuroscience block, yet did Kidney Dialysis in a portacabin. The Wards were kept clean & tidy, yet paint flaked off the walls in the main corridor. It was being deliberately manouvered into allowing the creation of the 'super hospital'. There were more, The old Showell Green Lane Womens, moved to the Maternity Unit, The Acci - now Student Accommodation, the Childrens - now the old General, The EYE, Skin, Nerve, even the Summerfield at Dudley Rd, sold off, their work done elsewhere on a much reduced scale, whilst vast profits were made by a few, non-NHS organizations.
The BEST thing I found about the QE was the Staff canteen accessed by the tunnel - it had by far the best Hospital Canteen food in terms of Quality & quantity, esp if I was between calls, (No queueing! - thanks ladies). And if I couldn't make the Canteen, the (Clock?) cafe by the entrance, absolutely HUGE dripping (lardy) cakes for 50p.
Yes it was a bit 'industrial' in its appearance, but it did some great work when I was there.
 
Hi. I trained as a State Enrolled Nurse. I can even remember my first days on West 5. The training involved alternating between medical and surgical wards during the first year with lots of time spent in the school of nursing. If I had my time again I would want to do the training exactly the same. I recently spent a short time in hospital. I had my surgery on Monday and was discharged on Wednesday and i was sure going home was too soon. But recovering at home is a good thing though.
Rocker, I worked on Renal Dialysis in the portacabin. Back then when it opened it was quite state of the art. All new and shiny but yes.... a portacabin...
 
Pete, you are right, I did my mentalhealth stint at Rubery Hill and often wondered where all the patients went, even then, care in the community wasn't working and by all accounts can't see it has improved an awful lot!! And yes the old QE was allowed to run down to give fuel to the need for a new build, which while it is a lovelynew place, is so big and impersonal to visit! And the cleaning is only as good as the cleaners and todays contract cleaners aren't part of the ward team , like our cleaners used to be, a lot of them are there for the money and have no pride in their work or what people think of it for me that is the big problem now - I know some of the cleaners are brilliant and do still have values and pride, but they should all have it!
We had an interesting question at one of our study days recently and the question asked was "would you rather have a caring team of nurses and other professionals or a new shiny ward with new bedding/ curtains etc. The lecturer - a non-medical person - was horrified when we almost all plumped for good care, so we persuaded him to do a patient survey with the same question - good, caring immediate care or shiny new surroundings - he hasn't got back to us yet with his views, but the overwhelming amount of replies - 94% we estimated - was for care.Just goes to show why the hospital managers should have a care background, not a business one in my mind. My real soapbox though as a lot of the forum members know, I am really passionate about care, hate to hear of bad experiences in hospitals and care settings.
Sue
 
Q E Then and now.
 

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SisterSue. I have to agree with you on cleaning. When Dudley Rd were sacking their Cleaning Staff, I ALWAYS sounded the siren when passing the picket line. I'm no administrator, I speak as I find, and we found that, pre contractors, if we took a patient up to a Ward, we had to wait until a newly steam cleaned Bed & Mattress were delivered. Then clean, ironed linen and pillow(s) were provided. The floor, cupboards & curtains were clean & disinfected. Post Contractors, we'd be shown to a bed, still warm from it's last patient, (who had probably just died), and the minimum effort was to turn the mattress over. Whilst the 2 sheets were changed, any blankets or pillows were left as before. Often blood, sputum or vomit would be everywhere.
This attitude didn't stop there. One day, we'd been to a ward in S.O.H. we saw the rubbish being served up for lunch, cold and miniscule. Walking back we saw the Board Room being prepared for Sir James Ackers & the Trust Board Members. Pheasant under glass, Beef, Turkeys, Wine & liqueurs, complimentary cigars, the sight was incredible. My crew mate Steve was so incensed he wrote to the B'ham Mail! That went down well with the WMAS management!
The NHS has been used as a cash cow by the rich for years, whilst paying lip-service to those who work in it/use it.
 
I'm not sure how or why, but this photo was in my laptop ...Nuffield House 1950...I've seen it mentioned in the thread...It looks a bit grim on the outside but maybe nice inside.
 

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Hi ...Myself (1958), my brother (1961) and a cousin (1961) were all born at The Q.E. Mom was in the bed next to my Aunt in 61.
My Grandad was a Ward Orderly at the hospital but I'm not sure how long he worked there. He worked on West 4 and was known as Little Joe.
Things must have been very different back then because in 1955 my Mom was taken ill and the local Doctor said that she just had a cold..Nan and Grandad were really concerned about her, so Grandad phoned Mr Taylor, a consultant at the hospital, Mr Taylor went to the house to see Mom for himself and very quickly arranged for her to go into hospital as she had Pneumonia and Pleurisy ...so much for the local Doctor's diagnosis !!! How great though that Grandad was just able to pick up the phone and for Mr Taylor to act so quickly..doubt that would happen nowadays..
here are a couple of photos of Grandad at The QE
1. Singing in a concert at the hospital
2. Standing holding a cue, next to a man who I believe is Joe Davis, in a game of snooker at the hospital

grandad pedlingham.jpgGrandad Ped v Joe Davis QE Hospital.jpg
Sadly grandad had a heart attack before he was due to retire and was unable to return to work to reach his actual retirement day.
 
Great stories folks...may I add or repost some of my memories of the place?

First I was a lab tech for thirty odd years there, commencing 1960. We moved from the Welcome Research Block opposite the Tennis Courts, next to Nuffield House, up to new labs at the newly built Maternity Hospital at the top of Nuffield Drive in 1968. My Nuffield House memories are mainly from the Bar, after a game of squash at the Morris Centre. We did produce a Hospital show there once in 1980, ot at least Pete Lawrence did. He was a Kidney Machine tech in the portakabins next to the Mortuary!

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The photo group below is from a Christmas Dance at the Nuff circa 1969, just to show the lad on back row, extreme right, who was our trainee manager who went on to become Chief Exec at Walsall Manor and then Worcester Royal until quite recently..John Rostill. Some might have heard of him..

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And I got a bit besotted with Hospital Shows thereafter, and produced three or four of my own at the Matty and Women's Hospitals in the early 80s...the guy in the shot first up is our musical director, Se Lynch, a Biochemist, whose young cousin went on to be famous in Boyzone and then Corrie, Shane Lynch. Happy days indeed...

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And following on from Jim's photos of the QEH before and after...here's a recent Bing shot of the QEH Medical School complex. I've marked my Office Window in the Womens Hospital with a yellow blob, and ringed the Tennis Courts where the famous Athena Poster of that blonde girl showing her backside to one and all was taken, and squared the Welcome Lab block where I started...

The other photo I took the day we moved in (1968) and is the view out of that window! A tad more rural then...not even a Car Park yet...


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Plus a couple for interest...

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The photo group below is from a Christmas Dance at the Nuff circa 1969, just to show the lad on back row, extreme right, who was our trainee manager who went on to become Chief Exec at Walsall Manor and then Worcester Royal until quite recently..John Rostill. Some might have heard of him..

Well this is a little late, only 4 years, but I knew John Rostill quite well at the time. I worked in the NHS, at BRHB Hagley Road until leaving in 1969 for Uni. I think the lady sat in front on the right might be John's wife, whose name I regrettably forget. Her brother though was nicknamed "killer" - possibly something to do with Old salts rugby club....
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These views from near a zebra crossing that goes nowhere (to the future unbuilt Life Sciences Park) at the Selly Oak Shopping Park.

The Birmingham Medical School. I think the old Queen Elizabeth Hospital is behind that.



The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. It opened in 2010!

 
never thought i would agree john but yes i quite like the design of this one....at least its got shape and character

lyn
 
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