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Goodwill messages flood in for ‘Granny Hospital’ after Sandie Macleod retires from Raigmore Hospital in Inverness


By Staff Reporter

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Highland Children's Unit, Raigmore Hospital..Sandie Macloed retiring after 52 years as a nurse...Sandie with Harry Ritchie Mackenzie...Picture: Callum Mackay. Image No..
Highland Children's Unit, Raigmore Hospital..Sandie Macloed retiring after 52 years as a nurse...Sandie with Harry Ritchie Mackenzie...Picture: Callum Mackay. Image No..

IN a career spanning a remarkable 53 years in children’s nursing, Sandie Macleod became known as Granny Hospital while one grateful father even got a tattoo of her nickname as a tribute.

Having been a reassuring presence for thousands of young patients, Mrs Macleod, a paediatric nurse on the Highland Children’s Unit at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness has finally retired – a milestone marked with a special merit Highland Quality Approach award from hospital bosses.

Her sense of caring and kindness has been renowned among her colleagues and the many patients and families she has looked after in good times as well as the darkest of hours.

And it was typical of her dedication that the 69-year-old stepped in to do an extra shift to cover for staff sickness the day after she should have officially finished.

It has been a career in which she has witnessed huge changes in the approach to caring for children in hospital as well as improved outcomes thanks to advances in treatments such as for cancer.

“When I was training, parents were only allowed to stay two hours a day,” she recalled.

“It was awful. You would see the children rocking backwards and forwards.

“Now, parents can stay and help with the care of their children and they get better quicker.”

Mrs Macleod, who lives in Drumnadrochit with husband, Neil, has two sons and two granddaughters.

One of five sisters – two of whom also went into nursing – she always wanted to be a children’s nurse.

She began her career as a 16-year-old auxiliary nurse at Strathblane Hospital near Glasgow, a convalescent respite facility mainly for children with special needs, where she spent 18 months until she was old enough to start her three-year nurse training at Oakbank Hospital in Glasgow in 1968.

“Our uniform was dresses and aprons back then and the matron knew us by the back of our legs!” she joked.

“We used to hitch up our dresses when minis were in fashion and then when midis came in would lengthen them.”

Following her first post in the neonatal department at Glasgow’s Yorkhill, she joined the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh and later took up a sister’s post on the children’s ward at Leith.

In 1979, she returned to her roots in the Highlands and joined York ward at the Royal Northern Infirmary in Inverness before moving to the children’s medical ward at the old Raigmore Hospital.

When the new Raigmore Hospital opened in 1985, she joined Rainbow ward, the paediatric medical ward, adjoining the surgical case ward, Rowan.

Her final move was three years ago when the new children’s unit opened thanks to a £2 million public appeal launched by the Archie Foundation and the Inverness Courier.

She reflected nurses had taken on more responsibilities over the years such as taking blood, cannulating patients and being accountable for giving drugs while she readily admitted she was not a fan of the growing mountain of paperwork and computers.

Mrs Macleod acknowledged staff sometimes faced sad times such as losing longer-term patients.

“You have to work together as a team and support each other,” she said.

Asked what it takes to be a good nurse, she replied: “You have to have empathy. You have to be caring. You have to be a good listener.”

April Emmott, senior nurse for NHS Highland’s paediatric services, recalled being met with kindness and commitment and an overwhelming feeling of ‘motherliness’ when she joined the ward in 2007.

“Sandie cared more than anyone I had met before – her passion evident for her patients and families,” she said.

“But a shift did not pass by where she did not reach out to me personally and ask after my own two girls. That’s a genuine empathy that cannot be taught.

“She always goes that extra mile - we have to chase her out of the unit hours after her shift has finished,

Among the many whose lives she has touched is the family of Keir MacGruer who sadly died on the ward in 2012, aged eight.

Keir, who lived in Lochardil with his parents, Lewis MacGruer and Angela Cran and brother Finn, was a regular patient on the ward after he was diagnosed with severe idiopathic pulmonary hypertension.

Despite the condition,which causes dangerously high blood pressure near the heart, the inspirational youngster raised £2500 towards a new children’s ward from an exhibition and sale of his artwork.

“Keir and I spent a lot of nights on the old children’s ward,” Ms Cran recalled.

“In the morning, we’d hear Sandie before we saw her – then she’d appear with her big voice and laughter to steal a kiss from him.

“She was so affectionate and made him laugh a lot. Se was also really kind to me after Keir died, taking time to share memories when I visited the new ward to donate some of his toys.”


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