This is the 3rd book in an autobiographical series about the nursing training that the author received on her journey towards becoming a District Nurse. Jane was one of the last to receive the Queen’s Nurse training at Castle Terrace in Edinburgh in the late 1960’s.
The book begins with Jane working on a female medical ward in Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. However, by chapter 5, Jane is setting out for her new life as a district nurse near Dingwall. The book is full of compassion and humour. We meet lots of colourful characters, both colleagues and patients. The book brought it home to me that district nurses drove around the Highlands of Scotland on their own through snow, fog and ice without mobile phones, and sometimes even without access to landlines. Whatever they found when they reached their destinations they had to deal with; patients in need of hospital care, or in various stages of labour, aggressive dogs, naughty chickens. District nurses certainly needed to be resourceful. An enjoyable read.
Alison Boyes
Administrator, QNIS
