• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to footer

Dawn Brookes

Author

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Rachel Prince Mysteries
    • The Rachel Prince Mysteries Box Sets
    • Carlos Jacobi
      • Body in the Woods
      • The Bradgate Park Murders
    • Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe Mysteries
      • Death of a Blogger
      • Murder at the Opera House
      • Murder in the Highlands
    • Nursing Memoirs
      • Hurry up Nurse! Book 1
      • Hurry up Nurse 2: London calling | Book 2
      • Hurry up Nurse 3: More adventures in the life of a student nurse|Book 3
    • Audiobooks
  • Books Show
  • Contact
  • Free Book
  • Events/Courses
  • Philanthropy
  • Press
  • Rachel Prince Mysteries
    • A Cruise to Murder
    • Deadly Cruise
    • Killer Cruise
    • Dying to Cruise
    • A Christmas Cruise Murder
    • Murderous Cruise Habit
    • Honeymoon Cruise Murder
    • A Murder Mystery Cruise
    • Hazardous Cruise
    • Captain’s Dinner Cruise Murder
  • Carlos Jacobi
    • Body in the Woods
    • The Bradgate Park Murders
  • Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe Mysteries
    • Death of a Blogger
    • Murder at the Opera House
    • Murder in the Highlands
  • Nursing Memoirs
    • Hurry up Nurse! Book 1
    • Hurry up Nurse 2: London calling | Book 2
    • Hurry up Nurse 3: More adventures in the life of a student nurse|Book 3
  • The Rachel Prince Mysteries Box Sets
  • Children’s Books
    • Suki Seal & the Plastic Ring
    • Gerry the One-Eared Cat
    • Danny the Caterpillar
    • Ava & Oliver Series
      • Ava & Oliver’s Bonfire Night Adventure
      • Ava & Oliver’s Christmas Nativity Adventure
    • Miracles of Jesus Series
      • Jesus Feeds a Big Crowd!
      • Jesus heals a man on a stretcher
  • My Readers Top 20 Books Read in 2021

Nursing biography published & goodbye to the London Chest Hospital

August 11, 2017

Posted on 11th August 2017 

I finally finished the second book in the Hurry up Nurse series. I must admit that I enjoyed writing this one just as much as I did the first. It takes place in London and brought back wonderful memories of working at the London Chest Hospital. This post is written with fond memories and gladness that I have finished my second nursing biography but tainted by a tinge of sadness at having to say goodbye to the London Chest Hospital.

Products from Amazon.co.uk

Bittersweet

Whilst writing the book I discovered that the wonderful London Chest Hospital that has stood for over a hundred years and survived bomb damage in the Second World War has now been closed and like so many old hospitals, it is soon to become modern housing. I was pleased to see that after much campaigning by the residents in the area, that some of the older features will remain and be incorporated into the new build.

The grounds also featured one of the East End’s oldest Mulberry Trees – I believe permission was granted for its removal by the developers. The tree stood beside the chapel which was destroyed in a bombing raid in World War 2. It will be transplanted but is unlikely to survive the move, it makes you want to cry.

London Chest Hospital

nursing biography

London Chest Hospital 1980

Situated in Bethnal Green, the hospital cornerstone was laid by Prince Albert in 1851 and it opened in 1855. It was principally a respiratory hospital for its first fifty years. Victorian England was rife with what was known as consumption (TB) and the hospital was a Godsend for people living in the overly populated and poverty stricken East End.

Later on heart treatments were introduced and when I worked there from 1980-1982 it was a cardio-thoracic hospital with pioneering heart surgery and cancer chemotherapy taking place. TB was still quite common and new treatments were given to patients to try to stop the spread of the disease.

My book refers to many of these treatments and my experiences of working at this wonderful hospital.

The hospital hit the headlines in 2012 when a consultant cardiologist from the hospital, who was attending the match, resuscitated the footballer Fabrice Muamba, who was subsequently admitted there.

Cardio-thoracic nursing

The hospital specialised in cardio-thoracic nursing and I was there to do a post-qualifying training course which lasted a year. The course was certified by what was then, the Joint Board of Clinical Nursing Studies or JBCNS for short. JBCNS validated and certified post-qualification training until 1984 when it was disbanded.

The training involved rotating through various specialisms including: chest medicine, chest surgery, coronary care, cardiac medicine, cardiac surgery.

In the early 1980s medicine was advancing at a rate as cancer chemotherapy and cardiac surgery were developing. London hospitals were often at the forefront of new treatments and this was certainly my experience.

HIV & AIDs were yet to come, first emerging in the USA in 1981. Although scientists believe the disease was present in humans much earlier – I didn’t come across the disease until the mis 1980s after I had left the London Chest Hospital.

Conclusion

Nursing biography

A nurse’s account of working at the London Chest Hospital

So it is with sadness that I say goodbye to my beloved London Chest Hospital but I hope that this memoir and others will help to keep its legacy alive. I wish the Bethnal Green campaigners every success with protecting as much of this historic building and its grounds as possible.

Buy Now Paperback

Buy Now Kindle

Footer

GET IN TOUCH

Contact

 

Connect With Me

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Follow Me on Bookbub

Dawn Brookes

Affiliate Links

Dawn Brookes is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to generate an income stream by including affiliate links to Amazon. If anyone orders a product after visiting Amazon via one of these links, the affiliate receives a small referral fee from Amazon. Links to the Alliance of Independent Authors membership website also include an affiliate code.

My Book Progress

Murder at a Wimbledon Mansion
Phase:First Draft
100%

Follow/Like me on Facebook

Privacy

Privacy Policy

Join Alliance of Independent Authors

Alliance of Independent Authors /

Copyright © 2023 · Dawn Brookes All rights reserved

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
SAVE & ACCEPT