Patronised by family and friends
This very large hospital on Eastern Road has inadvertently been patronised by family and friends for much of my lifetime. Gone are some of the smaller hospitals of Brighton, such as the Maternity Hospital near Brighton Station, and the Ear Nose and Throat Hospital on Church Street.
My first encounter with the Sussex County was when I visited my mother after her appenectomy, then my younger brother after he suffered concussion in a collision with a bicycle outside his school in Harrington Road. Many years later, I visited my father during his final illness in the hospital.
The hospital has changed a great deal over the half century I have visited it (I haven’t yet been an in-patient, though spent a few weeks in Guys in London more recently!), and I have always been impressed by the cheerfulness of the nursing and other staff.
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I lived in Whitehawk and Bristol St, Brighton, and was taken to the Sussex County Hospital on several occassions between 1938 and 1945 to have stitches for cuts and one thrown stone – mostly in my head – the others due to childhood accidents. In fact I went to the hospital so many times I was invited to two hospital Christmas parties! The nurses were always very kind and gentle.
I too, like Martin, can claim familial allegiance to RSCH. My Dad died there in 1980, my two sons were born there in 1981 and 1983. My 89-year old aunt had a hip replacement in 1990. But my Dad actually worked in the admin office from approx 1960 to 1965’ish, reporting to a Mr MacLeod (who reported to Mr Cruttenden) and alongside a Mr Harper. His job was stores ordering, payroll (I’m not sure if it was working out the pay or simply handing out the paypackets) and general correspondence. A job that would probably be done by half a dozen people these days with a computer each. The only computer my Dad had was an Adlista!
My dad went for a temporay job at the RSCH after WW2 and stayed until his retirement in the early 70s. He was a porter and worked the night shift.
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