I must make a correction.
So there were two Sister Beechs at Great Ormond Street, they were actually siblings and Sister Betty Beech who died recently we now discover is Night Sister Beech not Ward Sister Norma Beech so I must right the mistaken identity. As students we never knew their first names, much like school teachers, they were just The Sisters Beech to us and both worked at the hospital at the same time.
But I have as many memories of Night Sister Beech as Ward Sister Beech.
In fact it's worse than the Milton - Tasting / Hello - Marmite saga. Much worse, I could have been struck off before I was even on.
It was Night Sister Beech who came upon me on a ward round at about 4am, short-staffed and run off my feet on the ward on my own because the agency Staff Nurse had gone to tea, it was paediatric neurology, I remember that much. There was always a vast amount of work to do before the day staff came on and no flimsy excuse about being short-staffed ever cut any mustard, so thinking I was being clever I had proceeded to start dressing the children at about 3.30am and tucking them back under the bedclothes fully clothed. Now in fairness I was acting under orders but I know I know, sick children need their full whack of sleep in their pyjamas, however it seemed like a really good idea and I was impressed. We'd be way ahead of the game by 6am drug round, feeds and observations and on the home run by breakfast time at 7am and ready for report to the day staff at 8am and off home to bed.
I hadn't expected a ward round from Sister Beech quite so late into the night. We all thought they dashed round and then went off and had a sleep or drank pots of tea in a secret location after about 2am, so it was a bit of a stomach churner to hear her speedy footsteps tip-tapping along the corridor, the swing of the door and hey-presto she apparated before my very weary eyes.
If only children didn't have that habit of flinging off the bedclothes in their sleep because they are roasting and sweltering, overheating and sweating profusely the deception would have gone undetected I'm certain. Except they would then have been likely to have a febrile convulsion or be nudged into status epilepticus given that paediatric neurology is that sort of ward.
Nope, I can't even begin to tell you what happened next, my gizzards are entering a state of flux just thinking about it.
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