Nurses gathered in the atrium at Forth Valley Royal Hospital to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Royal College of Nursing. The event, on International Nurses Day, was marked with a special cake. On display was a timeline of nursing through the ages – from long dresses and frilly caps to the current uniform of tops and trousers.
The timeline charted hospital development in Forth Valley – from Falkirk Cottage Hospital in 1889, Stirling Royal in 1874, Bannockburn in 1894, and an infectious diseases hospital in Sauchie in 1895. In addition, the pictorial record captures the opening in May 1863 of the then Scottish National Institution for the Education of Imbecile Children, later to become the Royal Scottish National Hospital, and in 1869 the opening of Bellsdyke Hospital, originally called Stirling District Lunacy Asylum.
Moving through the ages it ends with important datelines such as 2010 when nursing became a degree profession, and the introduction this year of a new revalidation process to maintain registration and professional standards.
