First Days in PTS - West Middlesex Hospital

[Lord Anthony]

It was sixty years ago on Monday, 14th July 1952 that a group of us commenced our student nurse training at the West Middlesex Hospital.
Our first memories will be mostly of the twelve weeks in the PTS. The hospital had a large country mansion called Caenwood Towers, on the
edge of Hampstead Heath, where we student nurses (comprising 30 ladies and 5 men) were housed. We had come in from many different
backgrounds e.g. factories, offices and retail, some had also joined us straight from school. Once a week, a coach took us back to the hospital
at Isleworth, to work a day on the wards, under close supervision of the more experienced ward staff. Most of us on return to the 'safety' of
the PTS, admitted gret trepidation on the wards in those early weeks! I recall a couple of years on into our training, when we were the 'more
experienced staff', wondering what our new batch of PTS student nurses would be like!

Our training in PTS was thorough, thanks to the very able tuition of our two 'Sister Tutors' (or 'Nurse Tutors' today).  who very patient with
their rather 'green' trainees!

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