I can remember when I was a child, having an eye operation in Doncaster Gate Hospital. In fact it was the first eye operation performed there. The surgeon was brought in from Sheffield. I think he was called Dr Maw (or Moore?). After the operation, I had to have my eyes bandaged and so couldn’t see and I wasn’t allowed to move. It was at this time that a bomb was dropped on Clifton Park, which left a big crater. I could hear bombs going off and hear everybody else’s bed being moved, but they couldn’t move mine because of the operation. That is a very clear memory. I don’t know where the other beds were taken, but a nurse stayed with me.
Visiting was for about 2 hours. They didn’t want the routine to be disturbed more than that. There was a Matron and a Ward Sister and the routines were very strict. My Mum used to bring fruit for me and sometimes she would say ‘I’ve brought you an egg for them to boil for your breakfast’. Being war-time, food was scarce.
The surgeon told my Mum that he was very pleased with the success of the operation. He also said that I wouldn’t need to wear glasses after the operation, but having worn them since I was a toddler, I thought I looked funny without them, and insisted on wearing them still.
When I was allowed home to Wortley Road, (we lived near Jenkins Works), we had to go down the cellar when the siren went off, and I can remember my mother saying, ‘Don’t move your head Joan, don’t move your head’.
It was a lovely hospital. The wards were big, I would say there were about twenty-four beds in each ward, in rows down each side. The wards weren’t mixed. There were men’s, women’s and children’s wards and there weren’t curtains but they used screens.
I had two other stays in Doncaster Gate. Nearly 40 years ago I had my gall bladder removed and then was sent to the annexe at Rosehill, and a few years before that I had my appendix out there. The student nurses wore one blue ribbon on their hats if it was their first year, then two, then three. After that they took their SRN. There was also an outpatients department for minor operations.
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