HEBRIDEAN HEROINES

Written by: Catherine M Morrison

Published by: The Islands Book Trust

Price: £12.99

Nursing nostalgia has been placed firmly in the spotlight, thanks to the success of television series such as Call the Midwife.

In this book, nurses from 35 years before the founding of the NHS, women who were part of ‘a unique social experiment’ left their homes and travelled across sea and land to train as Queen’s district nurses, offer first-hand experience of their work. Many of them returned to serve in the island communities and, driven by a strong religious faith, were on call whenever required, often working long hours in remotes places.

The seeds of healthcare in the islands were deeply religious in places: the first 15-bed Lewis Hospital in Stornoway opened in 1896 and cost £2000. Prior to the opening, a bequest enabled a district nurse and a ‘Bible woman’ to care for the sick in the area. The ‘Bible women’ were an extension of the work of a Victorian missionary and social worker in London, who believed in deepening religious knowledge as well as providing healthcare.

The women who are the focus of the book were part of a project aimed at introducing and driving up the existing standard of health care in the Highlands and Islands: a damning report had focussed on ‘appalling’ levels of care in places.

After training on the mainland, the women returned to their communities and found themselves not only bolstered by faith (church was quite often their only social activity) but driven to serve by a job they loved. One lady reported working for a year without a day off – and was chided by her superintendent in Inverness, but an inability to provide cover meant she felt duty-bound to serve her community.

Some of the nurses’ stories are harrowing; some scary and some amusing. But they are all bound by a common theme – driven by commitment and a desire to do their job to the best of their abilities.

This article appears in the May 2017 Issue of Life and Work

Click here to view the article in the magazine.

To view other articles in this issue Click here.

If you would like to view other issues of Life and Work, you can see the full archive here.