History Features

As the doors of the Radcliffe Infirmary close for the last time, we take a look at it's history and what it meant to you.

If you would like to add your memories of the Radcliffe Infirmary please contact us using the form below.

History

The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford’s first hospital opened in 1770. It had 277 beds and provided specialist healthcare services across the Thames Valley and beyond. These include neurosurgery and neurology; cranio-facial, plastic and reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation services for older people.
 
The services offered at the Radcliffe Infirmary will be moved to the John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospital sites during 2007.

Oxford University will develop new research centres on the Infirmary site, and consolidate some of their existing research and teaching facilities.

Your Memories

Yvonne From Kingston Blount:

Having just watched your news item about the closing of the Radcliffe Infirmary as a hospital, I thought I would write to share my memories as a patient when I was admitted in 1993.

A strange thing to say about a hospital, but the building had a very unique and lovely atmosphere, and the staff genuinely felt that it was a very special place in which to work.  I know that the RI's Dept of Neurosurgery is a Centre of Excellence, and the treatment I received there, for a serious and life-threatening condition, was second to none.

I subsequently worked at the RI for a children's charity - the Child Brain Injury Trust - which was given offices there, and again, the atmosphere in the hospital building was very special.

It was an amazing hospital with dedicated, talented and hardworking staff, and I think it will be hugely missed.

Joan From Headington

I first went to work at the Radcliffe Infirmary in 1947 at the age of 18 in the Nuffield Department of Surgery (now the Neurosurgery Department), as Secretary to the House Surgeons. I arrived one Monday morning, the first member of staff to arrive, and was greeted by Mrs. Parker, our cleaner.  She decided to look after me until anyone else arrived and immediately took me into a small narrow room in the department which was full of pickled brains, and proceeded to point out the brain of Lawrence of Arabia!  Unfortunately some years after there was a fire on Nuffield III and as far as I know Lawrence of Arabia’s brain went up in smoke!

In those days all the patient notes were laboriously written out in long-hand and I had to decipher them onto the typewriter.  Then the Dictaphone was invented, which consisted of a wax cylindrical disc which had to be shaved before it could be used again. My job was to type all the patient notes, operation notes, neuropathological  reports, electroencephalographical reports as well as letters to GP’s and patients.  We had to work three Saturday mornings out of four.

A lot of the patient histories, including the ‘field notes’ of many head injured who were brought to St. Hugh’s College for operations at the Radcliffe Infirmary were kept in the dungeon, which I seem to remember was below the Works Department.  I am glad to say these notes, which provide a vast bank of research material are now kept in the Library at St.Hugh’s College.  The progress of several of the Veterans from World War II were monitored by Professor Ritchie Russell and Dr. Freda Newcombe and we have a St. Hugh’s Veterans’ Association which is still going strong.  I am the Honorary Secretary of the Association.

I married in 1951 and left to start a family in 1953, still keeping in touch by working at home for Mr.Pennbacker who was the Secretary to the Society of Neurological Surgeons.  After my daughters left school I worked at the Churchill Hospital for the Neuropsychology Department.  When the most of the Radcliffe Infirmary departments moved to the John Radcliffe site, we were relocated at the RI where.  I remained there until my retirement in April 1991.

Through the League of Friends I have always kept in touch, by organising the flower rota in the beautiful St. Luke’s Chapel and for the last four years running a second-hand bookstall with a friend in the Piccadilly area.

Mary Coates (nee Ovenell)

I first came into contact with the Radcliffe Infirmary when I was born there in 1933…what a start!

Mary Coates (nee Ovenell) in her nurse uniform

On leaving school, in the summer of 1951, I started at the Radcliffe as a Pre PTS what one was called prior to entering the preliminary  training school. In January 1952 I started my training and during that time  King George VI  died.

In those days nursing was very different, strict uniform code, no jewellery and hairnets to be worn if hair was shoulder length! We had some wonderful times in spit of Matron and Night Sister. My knees knocked as I stood on the mat outside Matrons office to ask for another thermometer to replace the one I had broken! The times I crept past the Night Sisters office, with a giggle, and hoping she hadn't missed me!

Two main memories for me are:-

1) I did quite a lot of nursing of patients with Poliomyelitis, in the Iron Lung.
These Lung Machines were donated to Hospitals by Lord Nuffield.  One night a young teenage girl, a very keen sportswomen who had been playing tennis came in. She was complaining of Muscle pain and slowly becoming paralysed. She eventually was put in the Iron Lung and nursed in it for sometime. She could only communicate to us by blinking her eyes – up and down for ‘yes’ and side to side for ‘no’. She didn't respond as expected, so was taken out of the lung and put on The Radcliffe Respirator No 1 (with pump and kettle as humidifier) and this became the first Intensive care nursing.
This young girl was carefully nursed by a good team of nurses and eventually
regained her health. Her dream came true and she trained to become a nurse
herself at the Infirmary.  What is so special to me is that I am still in contact with her every Christmas and what a joy it was to sit next to her in the Chapel at last years Radcliffe Guild of Nurses Reunion.

2) I can’t remember exactly when, but I was on night duty the night there was a
Rail crash on what is called the loop line near Didcot. My job was to clean the
Young patients up and comfort and reassure them, but of course this is basic
Nursing care.

Little did I know when I started nursing, my choice of hospital would lead me to my husband who was a patient there and quite naturally, when our 4 daughters were born, they were all born at the Radcliffe Infirmary! In 1993 I retired from nursing after working at the Churchill Hospital for 22 Years, and last year we celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary.

I made many good friends during my Career and am still in touch with them now.

Yvonne

My brothers were the first triplets to be born & survive at the RI.  I cannot remember this as I am younger than them - my mother told me that they were very, very small and very lucky to be alive.  They are still very much alive.  They were born nearly 60 years ago

Shirley from Kidlington

When I was five years old in 1936 I had an ear infection which led to an operation.  After I had returned home to recuperate, my mother was horrified to see a swelling come up in the centre of my forehead and I had to go back into hospital.  I had major surgery on my head to remove the front of my skull (the forehead) of all the infected bone.

Then something amazing happened X-rays showed that from the bone left in my head was growing a new forehead which although a little bumpy has served me well for another seventy years

Helena Ahier

I don't remember my first visits to the RI, as I was only approx 18 months old.  I was to have hearing tests and a scan on my right ear to ascertain any deafness.  My mum had thought that there were problems when I was very young, she didn't think I responded in the same way my two older sisters had at the same age.  Scan and tests showed I was deaf in my right ear due to having no ear canal.  My right ear has never grown properly and is somewhat smaller than the other.  I attended the RI ENT department every year until I was about 16.  This was for hearing tests to be carried out, and monitor any changes.  Going to these appointments meant a bit of a journey as we lived in Marcham.  Mum doesn't drive, so dad would have to take a day off work.  We would go Park and Ride from Redbridge to the RI front door.  Then the long long walk down the long long corridors.  The RI was never a frightening place, even though I was very young.  Then the long long wait for audio tests - first in the ENT reception waiting area, where I would play on the rocking horse (until I was too big), then in the sub-waiting area.  I never liked the audio tests as I found they didn't reflect normal day to day hearing problems and experiences, and when young, they were a bit scarey for some reason?!  Each yearly visit, I always saw Mr Freeland who was an excellent consultant.  At one stage he advised me that they may be able to drill a hole to create an ear canal, so I could hear in stereo.  This would have to wait until I was fully grown at 16.  However, this operation was never carried out as it was deemed too risky.  It could cause severe tinitus or infections in that ear for life, and as I coped with my deafness, it was agreed that things should be left as nature had intended.  I have had occasional visits since the regular yearly appointments ended.  Generally this would be because I was having some difficulty with my hearing.  One occassion was an admission for a tonsilectomy.  This was my first operation I had ever had, so didn't know what to expect.  I was extremely sick afterwards due to the aneasthetic, but no-one mentioned that the blood had run down my throat during the op.  Nice!  Still, it prevented me from continuous tonsilitis, which I'd had for over a year beforehand due to glandular fever.  It is sad that the RI had to close.  I would like to wish all the staff and current patients good wishes for the future at the JR.  I do wonder what happended to the old rocking horse, though.  I have a real horse of my own now, so maybe it influenced me in some way!

Andrew from Didcot

The Radcliffe Infirmary will be always be a very close hospital to me - I will always remember it and never forget it (despite it's now closed)! I was a patient there for many years admitted under the Craniofacial Unit - that unit was excellent with a fantastic bunch of doctors and they saved my life! My specialist was Mr Steve Wall, consultant plastic surgeon, who in 2001 performed an operation to remove a nasty lump that was pressing on my brain, and if he and his team, including neurosurgeon Mr Richards, hadn't removed it I could have died or suffered brain damage! That's what's so special about the RI, it did all these fantastic things with pioneering work and medicine in such a beautiful building but outdated facilities, like the children's wards. I'm sorry to see the RI close down, I was a patient there from 2000-2006, but it will always live in my memory - and it's now got great new facilities in a great new building at the JR like the Children's Hospital! LONG LIVE THE RADCLIFFE INFIRMARY FOREVER - YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!!

Richard Barry

Well, I grew up in St Ebbes, we lived at 22 Church Street until the houses were pulled down to make room for the Westgate Shopping Centre, but as for the Radcliffe, my first trip was as a 7 year old, I had watched my mother fill hot water bottles, and thought one night I would fill my own, she did not see me, but I boiled the kettle, and filling the bottle, I did not know if you filled it too fast it would spit back, which it did on my hand, so I dropped the kettle, and the bottle, and the boiling water went on my feet, so I was taken to the Radcliffe for treatment, next day I had some really nice blisters on my feet, My next trip there was about a year later, I had been playing down the cattle market, and when I got home, my mother said what is that blood on your leg, I looked and I had this big gash, I didn't even know I had done it, so back to the Radcliffe for stitches, over the years I went there for a lot of stitches, In 1966 my oldest daughter was born at the Hostpital, then in 1966 I was working for a painting company, and we were painting the old Swan Bakery down by the Brewery, I was painting the wrought iron pillers at the front entrance, I was at the top of the ladder when it fell away, I went crashing to the ground but left part of my little finger at the top of the piller, so I was again taken to the Radcliffe, this also happened to be Derby Day here I was on the operating table, the doctors had just cut a slice of skin off my arm to use as a skin graft , when an Ambulance pulled up outside the window, and they had the horse race playing on the radio, so the doctors stopped what they were doing and went over to listen to the race, also a memory I have is the smell when you walked in the doors of like ether of something, I now live in Arizona USA,  but I will always have fond memory's of the Radcliffe, I only have to look at all my scars for it to bring back the memory's.

Audrey

In 1942 I was admitted to  Hut B at the rear of the Radcliffe with an emergency appendix operation required. I was six and the memories are some what blurred, but I recall  the Doctor was a very large Black Man, who was wonderful, I was in hospital for several weeks, as the operation was done in two parts. First it was drained which took several days, and then after a few weeks  back home I went back in to have the appendix removed. I remember on the second visit I had a parcel arrive and it was a Shoe box filled with sweets, and of course being rationing this was a luxury, however one  boy across the ward said to me very wisely put the box in the bottom of your locker and hide it , and every evening when we were left to sleep I would  distribute  sweets by whizzing them across the floor to different kids. The box had been sent in to me by friends who had a grocers store in Didcot where I lived.  I was six at the time but can remember being visited by family many of whom were in Uniforms of Army and Air Force.

Ian Spencer

The nurses were sweet and kind, especially Nurse Kettle.  She was young and pretty, full of smiles and was very appealing to a seven-year-old.  I was in traction for a fractured femur in the summer of 1951.  I remember spending the whole of the summer holidays in Leopold Surgical Ward, returning there later in the year to have my large plaster-cast removed.  Nurse Kettle and her friends were interested in a young man who came in on a Sunday to take a Sunday-school class with us.  They asked us to find out his name but we couldn't bring ourselves to ask such a thing.  Instead, we made up the name of Basil Beasley, which did not seem to diminish their interest!  The days were long and the clientele changed frequently - I seemed to be there for ever.  Family visits were welcome and I remember my younger brother wondering where the broken leg was.  He expected it to be in a bed of its own.  I spent my eighth birthday in the ward.  A cake was made and I had to cut it into pieces for the whole ward and staff. My time there was full of fun and incident and there was always a sense that we were there to get better.  The nurses would reappear each morning looking clean, starched and fresh.  The routine of the day would commence and everyone would be involved.  I helped the staff to change the sheets on the bed by swinging from the frame which carried the traction gear for my leg.  Probably not a good idea but it provided me with some exercise!  I did leave the hospital, eventually, and I took my leg with me - I still have it and it has served me well through the years!  I shall miss the Old Radcliffe: I was born there, had many visits there, both as patient and visitor, and it was very much a landmark in Oxford.  I hope it continues to provide opportunities for learning and discovery in the future.

Jack Gibbons

For many years my sister Jackie and I were the organists at the chapel of the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. My sister held the position for many years in the early 1970s and then I took over from her while I was still at school when she left Oxford. Together Jackie and I provided the music for the weekly Sunday morning services conducted in the hospital chapel by the Reverend Barton. The chapel was a small but beautiful ecclesiastical building and the organ of the chapel was a wonderful old pipe organ with two ‘manuals’ (i.e. keyboards) and a limited number of ‘stops’ but with a quite beautiful sound and in size and power not unlike the kinds of instruments J.S. Bach himself would have played in the 18th century. I would often arrive at the hospital late in the evening to do some practice on the chapel organ when much of the hospital was closing down for the night (the chapel was situated some distance from the wards so with no chance of disturbing anyone sleeping!). For the Sunday services I performed not only the music for the hymns and psalms but also the ‘voluntaries’ (i.e. the music before and after the service). Most of the congregation was made up of doctors, nurses and patients, many of the latter arriving direct from their wards in wheelchairs, on crutches etc..  I well remember that after one Easter Sunday service I chose for the closing music, as the congregation slowly made their way out, Sousa's Liberty Bell March (otherwise known as the theme music to Monty Python). Being only 12 or 13 years old at the time my parents were furious with me when they found out what I had chosen to play! But apparently the choice was so popular with both the vicar and the congregation that the following year, on Easter Sunday, the very same piece was requested again! I will always look back with fondness and gratitude for the valuable experience playing the organ at the Radcliffe Infirmary chapel gave me.