Beryl Howard, my Grandma, who has died aged 85, was a palliative care nurse who rose through the ranks to become manager of the pioneering Michael Sobell hospice, based at Mount Vernon hospital, in Northwood, Middlesex.
Beryl was the first nurse to be on the management board of the hospital; as a manager she was also in charge of doctors: both rare achievements in the late 1970s, not just for a nurse but also for a woman.
Michael Sobell House, as it was then called, opening in 1977, was at the forefront of the hospice movement. Funded by Sir Michael Sobell, the president of the National Society for Cancer Relief (NSCR, now Macmillan Cancer Support), it led the way in changing the role of hospices from being a place where people went to die, to providing palliative care and improving patients’ quality of life. Beryl was instrumental in this work, and travelled the country advising on palliative care, and recruiting Macmillan nurses. Families were taught symptom control, so that patients could be cared for in their homes. In 1985 she received the NSCR president’s medal, and in 1992 she was made MBE.
Born in Rochdale, Beryl was the daughter of Ida (nee Ingle), a psychiatric nurse, and Ernest Barker, an engineer. She went to Rochdale grammar school for girls, then, in 1954, to Middlesex hospital, in north-west London, for her nursing training, settling in that area, and then in Herefordshire. She once said, “I lost my accent on the train from Manchester to London.” There were few nursing roles that she did not carry out, from district nursing to acute hospital care. When Michael Sobell House opened, Beryl was a senior nurse, promoted to manager by 1980.
She likened the role of managing her multidisciplinary team to that of conducting an orchestra: ensuring each role was playing out in perfect harmony with the patient and their family at the centre, combining skills, balancing professional and human judgment to deliver the best possible care for the person in need.
A CND supporter and lifelong socialist, Beryl took part in the first CND march to Aldermaston in 1958, and continued engaging with politics throughout her life.
Never shying away from debate, she was relentless in her readiness to challenge or be challenged by those around her. Reliably found at her kitchen table every day, either in the morning doing the Guardian crossword, or in the evening arguing with the TV, accompanied by a glass of red and a Benson & Hedges (later to be replaced with an e-cigarette), she prided herself on her intellect, wit, and sharp mind, and delighted in shocking her family with her outrageous sense of humour.
A marriage in 1960 to Stephen Howard ended in divorce.
Beryl is survived by their four children, Claire, Anna, Sara and Jonty, nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
