Long description

Figure 5 Nurses on a ward, Leith Hospital, Edinburgh, 1917. This image encapsulates the order and cleanliness of the hospital ward, with its rows of beds and polished floor. This picture is unusual in that it does not show the medical staff, only the nurses, some of whom are tending to a patient. The trolley of dressings and bottles is visual evidence of how the role of nurses had expanded from providing care to undertaking medical treatment.