Over the last 100 years we have seen numerous changes in medicine, surgery and nursing.

 

Some of these changes have been made by accident, whereas some have been by design. Some have been both readily and gratefully accepted, whereas some have taken a considerable amount of persuasion and coercion to be accepted across the board. Not all of these advances have proved to be as successful as was at first hoped, indeed some of them nearly failed before they finally proved themselves worthy of the hard work involved.

 

If we go back to the start of the last century, the health of the nation left a lot to be desired. Antibiotics were still to be introduced. The National Health Service was not even thought of, in fact the “hospitals” were more like work houses and many hospitals in towns were what were known as ‘voluntary hospitals’, supported by charitable donations and subscriptions, where free treatment was available to all - though infectious diseases, and pregnant women, were usually excluded.

 

In many cases the equipment that was used was also somewhat primitive in design and certainly alarming in its appearance. Brass and carbon steel - stainless was not invented until 1913, and Downs Surgical first used it in instruments in 1919 was in abundance as was polished glass. There was not much, if any, plastic, rubber and vulcanite were widely used.