Chairmans Report
Having
been involved with the Friends for well over a year now, I have come to realise
increasingly how much is achieved by us on behalf of the patients, doctors,
nurses, and indeed the hospital in general.
Requests
for financial support cover a wide range of amenities and equipment, ranging
from what might appear to be seemingly insignificant to the highly
sophisticated. Many of the items for which financial support is requested are
for the maintenance of basic patient and staff care and are submitted initially
to the Trust for approval; the fact that they subsequently come to us is an
indication of the financial constraints under which the Trust is obliged to
operate. Examples of basic requests which have been approved are chairs for the
postoperative care unit, vital sphygmomanometers, conversion of a bathroom to a
seated shower unit in the orthopaedic ward, and a hoist to lift patients safely
onto the treatment couch in the radiotherapy department. These four basic items
amounted to just under £9,000. At the other end of the scale at the time of
going to press the Friends have approved the sum of £64,000 for the purchase of
a state‑of‑the‑art operating microscope for skull base tumour
surgery. The allocation of this sum of money to Professor Gleeson was considered
to be entirely appropriate since Guy's has now been designated as one of three
centres of excellence in Europe in the field of skull base surgery; not only
does this ultra sophisticated microscope facilitate the task of the surgeon, it
also lends itself as a very advanced teaching aid. In all, the sum of £66,573
was spent by the Friends for the purchase of amenities, research and equipment,
much of which the Trust was unable to supply, and we are committed to further
grants of £139,554.
Many
of our members responded to the death of our former Vice Chairman Margaret
Campbell by making donations and we sought to use these funds to perpetuate her
memory in a practical way. The Friends considered a new sound system for the
chapel to be appropriate and agreed to add to the contributions already received
so that the sum of £5,000.00 was available to cover the cost of such a system.
In addition a small plaque will be placed in the chapel commemorating Margaret,
with a second such plaque in the offices of the Friends. Early in December 1999,
two long‑serving volunteers, Miss Winifred Heath and Mrs Joyce Stanley,
from the Friends flower shop were honoured by the Chairman of the Trust for
their devoted service and presented with prestigious badges. Miss Heath received
her Guys gold badge for over 25 years of dedicated service in medical
records, admission, and the Nurses League, before retiring to concentrate all
her efforts in the Guys flower shop. Mrs Stanley received a Guy's silver
badge for 20 years enthusiastic service in the Friends flower shop, finding time
along the way to produce knitted items for sale in the shop.
We
were saddened to learn of the death this summer of Lord Robens, our President
and a previous Chairman of the Board of Governors of both the hospitals and the
medical school. Lord Robens was a devoted and loyal friend of Guy's Hospital and
in this issue of the annual general report tribute is paid to him and an account
of his career, which appeared in the programme of his Thanksgiving Service at
Westminster Abbey is included. Lord Harris gave the address and spoke warmly of
their joint association with Guy's Hospital and the Medical School.
We
are greatly honoured to have Lord Harris as our new President, because like his
predecessor his association with Guy's Hospital goes back a long way and his
contributions to it have been enormous. The Friends will benefit immensely from
his wisdom and guidance.
We
were also grieved to hear of the death of Miss Linda Titley, a Vice President of
the Friends and a former matron of the hospital. An appreciation of her was
recorded in the Nurses League journal, which appears later in this report.
We
are also very fortunate and proud to have Mrs Kay Glendinning as a new Vice
President. Her involvement with Guy's has not just been a family connection, but
very much a hands‑on affair and we therefore hope to benefit greatly from
her experience.
As
always we are indebted to Jeff Simpson our Treasurer for his hard work in
preparing the accounts and also for keeping a watchful eye on the state of our
finances and on income trends. Of late, there has been a disquieting drop in
patient subscriptions and donations, possibly as a result of rapid patient
turn‑over, increase in the number of day cases, and other unforeseen
circumstances. Mindful of this situation and the possibility that the income in
the future may continue to drop, Delyth Hay, our Vice Chairman, and Philippa
Blake‑Roberts, our legal adviser, with the help of Mr A Roles, Dr. G Mack
and Mr Jeff Simpson, have been exploring the possibility of tapping outside
expertise in order to improve the state of our finances. To all of these, we are
grateful for their many contributions on behalf of the friends.
Margaret
Roberts has worked tirelessly on behalf of the services branch to raise money
and has been very successful with her stalls and fetes. Her activities are the
subject of her own independent report, but to her and her colleagues thanks are
due. Alan Campbell and Richard Cotton remain actively involved in the Friends of
Guy's Trading Company, and Alan together with Delyth and others have risen to
the occasion for the Millennium by joining forces with the Friends of St Thomas'
in preparing a cookbook of selected recipes for sale, with an endorsement by
Delia Smith. To all of them, and those working behind the scenes we are very
grateful, Thanks are due to Susan Taleghany voluntary services manager, and to
Peter Hiscock for his continuing support on our computer system and arranging
printing of this report and also to Sylvia Mannall and her volunteers for all
their hard work in the running of the shop. Pat Hutton once again has been
indispensable, always ready to proffer words of wisdom and guidance, and finally
George Scott continues to allow me to lean on him for support for which I am
very grateful,
The
Annual General Meeting will be held in the lecture theatre of the Guy's Tower on
the 30th floor at 5.30pm on Wednesday 3rd May 2000, followed by tea, to which
all attending are invited.
Omar
Shaheen, MS, FRCS
Chairman
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ALFRED ROBENS
December
1910 - June 1999
By
the age of 21, Alfred Robens, a Mancunian by birth, was the youngest Main Board
Director of the third largest Co-operative Society in the United Kingdom, but
more importantly, one of the nation's first 'Employee Directors.' He went on to
become one of the youngest full time Trade Union Officials of the day.
In
the General Election landslide victory of 1945 he gained for the Labour Party
the Wansbeck seat, later renamed Blyth, in Northumberland. On entering
Parliament he joined the Transport Ministry team in the House of Commons, was
made junior Minister for Fuel & Power in 1947, and appointed Minister of
Labour & National Service in the last year of the Attlee Government.
The
following years were spent on the Opposition front bench as Shadow Labour
Minister, and then as Shadow Foreign Secretary and in 1960 he accepted the
Chairmanship of the National Coal Board offered by the Prime Minister, Harold
Macmillan.
Lord
Robens devoted the next ten years to reshaping the Mining Industry into a modern
industrial power source for the 60's and 70's ‑ taking seats on NEDC and
the Board of Governors of the Bank of England (1960‑81). From 1965 he was
Chairman of the Board of Governors, Guy's Hospital, and instrumental in
collecting the monies required to build Guy's Tower block. Additionally, he
Chaired Guy's Hospital Medical and Dental School until 1982.
The
Govemment of the day appointed Lord Robens Chairman of the Committee on Health
and Safety of people at their place of work ‑ from which grew the unique
Health & Safety at Work Act and Executive ‑ which will eventually
embrace the whole of the new European Community.
HRH
The Duke of Edinburgh approached Lord Robens in 1972 to become one of his two
trustees on the Westminster Abbey Trust, set up to raise the money for a much
needed restoration. The Trust collected over £25 million spanning 23 years
‑ the time necessary for the preservation of the fabric of the Abbey. The
success of the Trust's efforts with this venture is totally evident for us and
future generations to appreciate and enjoy.
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Miss Linda Titley - died August 1999
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MISS
LINDA TITLEY
(Repoduced
by kind permission of the Editor of the Nurses League Journal)
With
the death of Linda Titley on 14th August 1999 we have lost a highly
respected and dedicated Guy's Nurse. She was a formidable lady whose stern
exterior concealed a kind and generous nature, a love of life and a
mischievous sense of humour, all well known to those of us who enjoyed the
privilege of her friendship.
Miss
Titley died peacefully after only a short illness, although for some time
her health had been failing and she had become housebound. |
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She
bore this cheerfully, being glad to remain in her own beautiful home with its
lovely garden, both treasured. They had been shared for many years with her
friend Miss Violet Brand who sadly predeceased her in 1985.
On
completion of her Guy's training in 1937 she was appointed Staff Nurse and then
Ward Sister. During the war, when nursing staff were evacuated to base hospitals
in Kent, she spent her time at Farnborough and 'The Wilderness' Sevenoaks. On
her return to Guy's Miss Titley was promoted to the post of Office Sister
becoming Assistant Matron and later Deputy Matron.
In
1952 she left Guy's to become Matron of St Charles' Hospital, Ladbroke Grove,
and during her years there introduced Guy's methods of nurse training and
patient care, always endeavouring to maintain high professional standards. She
retired in 1968. I quote from an appreciation written by Mrs Jean Recknell after
Miss Titley's retirement from Guy's in 1971.
"How fortunate we were
that Miss Titley, having retired from St Charles' Hospital, was free to consider
the invitation of the Governors to return to serve Guy's in its hour of need.
How grateful we are to this generous‑hearted indefatigable woman with her
warm welcome and broad smile for that which she has achieved, often in the face
of present day difficulties, during her three years of office, and above all for
restoring stability amongst all grades of nursing staff. Now, I understand,
Guy's trainees who left to gain further qualifications and experience of their
training, are happy to return to take up senior posts within the wards and
departments, something which is vital to the future of Guy's particularly as the
'New Tower Block' is due to be completed in 1973.
How
happy Miss Titley must be, in the knowledge that during the past three years she
had, as always, the full support of the Chairman and Board of Governors, the
Superintendent and Clerk to the Governors, for much that had been in the
'pipe‑line' for a number of years was to be approved and implemented. At
last the schools of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Radiography are together in one
building, Shepherd's House, thus facilitating the inter‑changeability and
co-ordinated learning and the complete service needs of the patient.
The
modernisation of the accommodation in the Nurses' Home and the increased
accommodation available to the Schools has enabled the first intake for the
Experimental Scheme for Nurse Training, a six month Intensive Therapy Nursing
Course, a one‑year Operating Department Nursing Course and a Ward Sister
Preparatory Course of one year for trained nurses to commence and, in November
1971, Part 1 Midwifery Training was re-instituted.
Now
to 'Salmon' ‑ delicious to eat but difficult to stomach for past loyal
Guy's trainees. Wisely, Miss Titley viewed it with extreme caution, but as it is
the future pattern of the nursing service, she left its final implementation to
her successors, having adopted the 'Salmon' pattern of administration to
safeguard the loyal members of her staff who would otherwise have suffered
financially.
Finally,
all that remains is to wish Miss Titley, our Honorary Secretary and Chairman of
The Guy's Hospital Nurses' League, happiness and good health in her well earned
retirement!"
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Members
of the Friends will be pleased to hear that Lord (Phil) Harris has agreed
to be our President elect. Lord Harris has been a huge benefactor to
Guy's. In 1982 he donated, together with his wife Pauline, a new lecture
theatre for the Medical School and in the following year founded the first
chair of Radiological Sciences still held by Professor Michael Maisey. In
1985 they provided the hospital with the first Magnetic Resonance Scanner.
In 1992 his association with Guy's became even closer when he became the
Chairman of the very |
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