Hospital Then and Now

On being admitted to Sunnybrook Hospital prior to surgery, I was asked by the nurse if I had ever had an operation before. I told her that I had an operation at the age of 7 or 8. She replied that things had not changed much. But some things have changed!

Then (1963)
Hospital: Royal Ear Hospital in London UK. Old, probably Victorian. Inside covered with white tile and outside with red brick. Think “Carry On, Doc”.

Length of stay: one week for what seems a very simple procedure(*)

Nurses: all very young with blue serge dresses and starched white aprons. Also wore cuffs, broad black belts and little hats. Nurses do just about everything. Bossed by the Matron who was a sort of General Patton in nursing outfit. Everyone deferred to Matron except (possibly) the surgeon.

Ward: one big ward for all the kids. Lots of fun: played board games with each other and gave rides on bedcarts when the nurses were not looking. Big, tall windows with drapes.

Food: awful. Worse than school dinners. We had to eat every last morsel. I still gag at the smell of boiled turnips.

Injections: lots. Seemed to be an injection at least once per day for this and that; usually in the buttocks. I think this is how the nurses got their revenge for bad behaviour.

Now (2009)
Hospital: Sunnybrook. Mostly new (post 1980). Sprawls over a leafy green campus on the edge of the Don Valley.

Length of stay: 24 hours for something that in 1963 would have been considered science fiction.

Nurses: on average, older and more experienced. Nothing very uniform about them either. They are much more specialized; they do nursing, not bed-making, cleaning, etc.

Ward: I was in the general ward. No windows. Each bed had its own dimmable light.

Food: wasn’t there long enough to have any substantial food so I can’t comment.

Injections: only one and that was to install a ‘drip’. Everything else goes in with the drip mechanism. Painless but makes it harder to run away.

(*) My understanding (only pieced together in retrospect and I may be totally wrong) is that the blood flow in the inner ear was supposed to be improved by blocking sympathetic nerves in the stellate(?) ganglion. I do remember that the side effect was supposed to be droopy eyelids and my Mum was not too keen on this. It was tried temporarily using an anaesthetic. As that didn't seem to help, the more permanent surgery wasn't attempted.