Malcolm has been Chair of the Friends of Wisbech Hospitals since 2012 and has had a long career in nursing and working at North Cambs Hospital.
After starting work in an industrial laboratory (first day in 1969 arriving after staying up for the moon landings!) Malcom has had a lifetime in nursing, qualifying as an SRN and RMN.
He came to Wisbech in 1978, ostensibly for two years, but (as many of us do) ended up staying, and is still here. In this time, he has worked in senior roles for the various forms of North Cambs Hospital, and before retirement was a Nurse Practitioner at North Brink Practice, one of the first Nurse Prescribers in the county.
Malcolm gave a fully illustrated talk about the various incarnations of what is now North Cambs Hospital, commencing with the opening of the hospital in 1873 by Miss Margaret Trafford Southwell.
There were lots of rules about who could be admitted to the 16 beds, including; no under 4- year-olds, no epileptics, no advanced consumptives, and no-one who was dying!
Moving through the Edwardian era, Malcolm had a photo of Nurse Logan from about 1900 – does anyone
know her? Unfortunately, although the photo is named, there is no information about her.
This time also encompassed the Wisbech Riots: the confrontation between local surgeons and Dr Dimock after the coming of the 1911 National Insurance Act provided insurance cover for the free services of a GP. After Dr Dimock took his own life, the locals rioted against the other GPs, leading to the Mayor reading the Riot Act.
In images of the various ranks of nurses, it was interesting to see the range of uniforms, and especially the style with the forms of starched headdress.
In 1923 (celebrating 50 years) the Vera Green Children’s ward was funded and built by Mr & Mrs R W Green named after their late daughter, Vera.
In recognition of the Silver Jubilee of King George V, a children’s ward containing 20 cots and beds (Jubilee Ward) was erected. The Hon. Miss Alexandrina Peckover laid the foundation stone on 6th May,1935. The stone can still be seen having been moved from its original location during subsequent renovations. Malcolm had an image of the stone laying ceremony which, it is thought, is the first time this had been seen by a public audience, having been given to him by the granddaughter of the architect.
Into the twentieth century we saw the wards being painted (beds still in place, don’t know what they did with the patients at the time ) and Mayor Bill Trumpess at what used to be the annual visit of the Mayor at Christmas. It was Bill Trumpess who was killed when two Harrier jets collided over Wisbech in September 1979, one of them falling onto Ramnoth Road. Malcolm said, “you never expect to be phoned with ‘a jet has crashed in Wisbech, expect casualties’”.
Another find at the hospital had been a bench with a plaque dedicated to Frank Alberts, anaesthetist. Frank worked for many years at the hospital, often as the only anaesthetist, and was also a campaigner for flame retardant clothing for children, having dealt with many burns’ injuries in the Intensive Care Unit. The plaque commemorated Frank’s role
as Chairman of the Twinning Group from 1964-1974. It has now been returned to another bench in the grounds.
In 1963 a new medical unit had been added to the hospital (which was now part of the minor injuries block). It was
also a training hospital until the 1980s with many nurses passing through.
There were also three other hospitals in Wisbech during the time of the North Cambs:- Clarkson (which was originally the workhouse), Bowthorpe, and the Barton Road fever hospital.
There used to be an annual Hospital Fair for fundraising. A minibus fund committee became the Friends of Wisbech Hospitals which was officially formed in 1953.
Further improvements were made in more recent years with a £100,000 donation from Miss E Ames towards a new Outpatient Department (as a memorial to her brother-in-law and sister, the late Mr & Mrs Harry Bancroft) and £35,000 from Walter Hunter-Rowe for a new operating theatre suite. The 1990s saw the Duchess of Gloucester opening Rowan Lodge, a new residential area, and the Parkside Day Hospital (both for the elderly and mentally ill).
The Duchess returned in 2022 to open the redeveloped Alan Hudson Day Treatment Unit for which the Friends gave £75,000 towards the project.
With changes in government policy and the NHS, the services offered at the North Cambs site have changed radically over the years with different affiliations with Peterborough, QEH King’s Lynn and Addenbrookes adding to the complications of administration. NHS Plans for a £25M ‘health village’ were reduced to a £8 revamp, reduced
further post-Covid to £6M.
The Friends have continued to contribute significant funds to the recent refurbishments. There is a revamp of the entrance to the Arthur Rank unit, the Alan Hudson Memory Garden, and the furnishing of a new staff room, and the
installation of a Changing Places facility.
Within the hospital can be found boards from the nineteenth century listing donors towards the costs of the hospital in which the Peckovers feature quite a lot. The Friends were set up in 1953 to help fund extras for the patients and staff at the hospital; however, they are now contributing significant sums to basic services, having given £1.8 million over the past 10 years.
2026 will see the disbanding of the Friends. They will be donating £500,000 to the current refurbishment works and services within North Cambs, but are finding it increasingly frustrating to deal with the complicated administration system under seven different NHS bodies that run the hospital, and also cannot find officers to take on the roles needed to run the charity.
Malcolm mentioned the recent issues raised with MP Steve Barclay regarding the loss of X- ray services from the hospital. Cynics may say that as the new diagnostic centre at QEH needs footfall, patients may be directed there, but …
Following his presentation, Malcolm passed around a selection of old medical apparatus for us to guess the use. Most were for inserting in one orifice or the other!
POST MEETING NOTE: this talk became the basis for a book. Please contact us if you are interested in buying a copy. £3.50 + P&P