Nursing Association Formation

Most towns and villages around the country would require the services of a local nurse to tend and support the elderly, infirm and those of the poor suffering serious ongoing malady. In the days before the formation of the National Health Service in 1947, working people would ‘buy-into’ a subscription-scheme to allow them to access the services of a local nurse, who would work under the direction of an elected committee including a medical practitioner working in the parish.
Local Nursing Associations were set up under a Parish or Borough Council funding scheme. The Westerham Nursing Association was formed in 1917 in affiliation with the Kent County Nursing Association (K.C.N.A.)

The first appointed nurse was Miss R Wilson who in 1917 received an annual salary of £90 plus uniform and dedicated furnished accommodation in Moreton Almshouse as agreed under a provision from the benefactor, Miss Moreton.  All appeared to go smoothly for the first two years, but in February 1919 trouble was laid before the Committee following a complaint from the nurse regarding Dr Cotton’s attitude towards her. She complained that his general treatment of her for sometime past had lacked respect and that he had belittled her in front of the husband of a recent patient…

Continued under ‘Doctor Cotton on Horseback’