Irene Slater Hall MBE (1888 – 1961) was an Australian hospital matron who over 40 years became "synonomous" with the former Royal Newcastle Hospital.
Irene Hall | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 19 July 1888 |
| Died | 11 August 1961 |
| Nationality | Australia |
| Occupation | hospital matron |
| Employer | Royal Newcastle Hospital |
| Known for | "synonomous with [her] institution" |
Life edit
Hall was born in New South Wales at Ryde in 1888. Her Australian born parents were Harriett (born Noakes) and her husband Moses Slater Hall - who worked on a farm. She was educated locally.[1]
Nellie Gould and Sister Julia Bligh Johnston ran the private Ermelo Private Hospital in Sydney.[2] Hall was a nurse there in 1907 before she began training at Sydney Hospital the following year. She completed her training in 1913.[1]
In December 1914, Hall began work at the Royal Newcastle Hospital as a deputy matron and in the following year she became the hospital's matron. She served for 43 years and her name was said to be "synonomous with the institution". She kept a rigid discipline with her nurses when they were training. She said her discipline was more rigorous than the British army.[1] When the Matrons' Handbook of Lectures to Trainees was published in 1935[3] she was the editor.[1]
She first attended the International Council of Nurses congress in 1937. She later went to the congress in Atlantic City in 1947.[1]
Under the hospital's innovative medical superintendent, Chris McCaffrey, introduced initially unpopular reforms to nursing made with the help of Hall.[4]
In 1957 she attended her last International Council of Nurses congress which was in Rome and she became a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.[1]
Death and legacy edit
She retired in 1958.[1] In 1960 the Royal Newcastle Hospital's Irene Hall Nurses' Home was opened in Newcastle.[5] Hall died in 1961 in the Royal Newcastle Hospital.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h Capper, Betty, "Irene Slater Hall (1888–1961)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2023-10-22
- ^ "Gould, Ellen Julia (Nellie) (1860–1941)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
- ^ Matrons' Handbook of Lectures to Trainees, as Approved by the Sub-committee of the General Conference of the Matrons' Association of New South Wales. Hospitals Commission of New South Wales. 1935.
- ^ Duggan, John M; Hendry, Peter I A (2005). "Royal Newcastle Hospital: The Passing of an Icon". Medical Journal of Australia. 183 (11/12): 642–645. doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb00065.x. PMID 16336160. S2CID 9813229.
- ^ "Matron Porter, second left, at the opening of the Irene Hall Nurses' Home, Newcastle, NSW, 1960". Living Histories. Retrieved 2023-10-23.