Temp staff- Pam Stephen - 1954

I have received this email from Brian Stephen's whose sister Pam was there for six months:

" SULLY HOSPITAL circa 1954

I remember enjoying a spell ‘temping’ in the medical records office of Sully Hospital. I had just returned from a year in France as an au pair, when I found myself on the same bus as Pat Edwards, who asked me what I was doing at that time. So it was that I found myself working with her in Medical Records at Sully Hospital, where she was the senior secretary to the Medical Superintendent, Dr Foreman – affectionately known as Father Foreman. (His PA and office manager was a Miss Skinner, from Dinas Powis. Her niece, Bunty Skinner, and I were in the same class in Penarth County Grammar School for Girls.)

Some six weeks later I developed infective hepatitis (having had a clear Mantoux test three weeks previously) and was off work for six weeks. I later learnt that two of the theatres had been closed because of the virus - suggesting that the needles used for my test had not been thoroughly cleaned! Anyway, I returned to work and liked it there very much because it was a very happy place and Pat was such a very pleasant person. I well remember that she and I used to sing together a lot, which caused much amusement when overheard.

I can’t really tell you much about Sully Hospital, as I was there for not much more than six months. I do remember it as a very happy and caring place with lovely views and friendly staff. ( I also remember that if I missed the bus in the morning, I had to get on my bike and pedal like mad to get there on time!) It hit news when it was the first hospital in the country to do a ‘blue baby’ heart operation: it was really a general thoracic hospital and very much up-to-date at that time. The Medical Superintendent, Dr Foreman, was a lovely man and well-respected for the work he had done in a prisoner-of-war camp during an outbreak of typhoid, and for which I believe he got a gong. I think he was an Australian. His office adjoined medical records and he was on friendly terms with all the staff.

When the Medical Superintendent at Glan Ely Hospital was looking for a personal secretary/PA, he put my name forward – and, there I was! Glan Ely was a general TB hospital – bones and joints as well as thoracic treatment.

The diminishing role of both these first-rate hospitals began some 2-4 years later when mass x-ray examinations picked up TB in its early stages and hospitalisation was no longer needed.
The person who can really give you the gen here, is Pat Edwards. She was really conscientious and knew the place well."

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