Nursing in the 70s Part 10 - Living in

One of the benefits of undertaking a nursing career in the 1970s was the oppurtunity to 'live in'. in hospital provided accomodation. This was a cheap and cheerful option for those who couldnt afford to rent a flat in the town. Accomodation was pretty basic, a bedsit with a sink and shared bathroom and kitchen. It was organised as strictly single sex and no visitors especially between the hours of sunset and sunrise. Female nurses were typically housed in a large accomodation blocks on the hospital site.

These resembled prison blocks which I guess was the idea. The nurses home at St Marys was a three story red brick building which included the canteen and kitchens on the ground floor. Opposite the kitchen were the Staff Nurse and Sisters lounges, areas out of bounds for students and other worker bees.

Male nurses usually got a better deal and in my case it was sharing a large Victorian house on Bedfordwell Road with nine other collegues. The house had been converted to ten bedsit rooms with 2 bathrooms, a lounge and kitchen. I suppose the best thing about was that it was off site and near to the hospital social club. There was slightly less supervision there too as the Home Warden seemed to find it too far away to visit very often. My fellow inmates were a mixed bunch from all over the world, Mauritius, West Indies, Northern Ireland and Africa. Despite the cultural diferences we all got on pretty well and I made many good friends at that time.