My first impression on reading Joan Woodcock’s excellent memoir was how much has changed in just over 50 years. Matron still ruled (just) and nurses, like the author, could begin their training at a very young age. If it wasn’t for her references to events of the times (the moon landing, the Beatles) it would be easy to believe we were back in the early days of the C20th. How things have changed. With a no-nonsense attitude that’s very engaging, Joan Woodcock has a lifetime of nursing stories to tell, tragedy and laughter on tap in equal measure, pain and suffering balanced by dedication and superhuman care.
Joan Woodcock always dreamed of becoming a nurse. And in 1966 the dream came true. From her very first day as a naive sixteen-year-old cadet, standing nervously outside Matron's office, this is Joan's story of an eventful career spanning forty years in the NHS. Working on hospital wards, casualty units and out in the community, as well as stints in a prison and a police unit dealing with sexual assault, Joan has seen it all. In this moving memoir she gives an honest, revealing account of a challenging, unpredictable and ultimately rewarding life in nursing. From an early encounter with a horrific axe injury, to the patient who swallowed their suppositories, to daily dealings with difficult patients and all kinds of bodily fluids, Joan shares memories of laughter and tragedy, and of the now defunct matron system that at one time instilled nurses with such high standards of professionalism and patient care.
Joan Woodcock was born and brought up in Blackburn, Lancashire, to hard-pressed working class parents. Hospitalisation at the young age of four inspired her to become a nurse, and at 16 she started as a cadet nurse, before beginning formal nurse training two years later under the traditional matron system. Despite the strict discipline and harsh training regime, Joan qualified as a State Registered Nurse in 1971. Her career spanned 41 years, and included positions in hospital casualty departments, GP practices, the prison service, Marie Curie cancer care homes and in the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Centre for Lancashire Police - as well as a brief moment of fame on national TV. Joan took early retirement in 2008 to spend more time with her family and her beloved pet spaniel Gino.
