Technicians

One of Sidcup’s legacies was the integration of staff. 

Surgeons collaborated with dentists, technicians and artists as well as the nurses. The importance of the support staff, and the development of this early “multidisciplinary team”, cannot be underestimated. 

The hospital had a resident sculptor, John Edwardsand a photographer.  In addition there were three artists; Henry Tonks, whom Gillies had encountered at Aldershot and was himself a qualified surgeon; Daryl Lindsay, an Australian from a  renowned artistic family and Herbert Cole, a New Zealander.  Tonks worked in pastel, the other two in watercolour.  Gillies was keen that colour should be used to illustrate the nature of raw wounds, consequences of infection and the lividity of burns. The images in the Royal College of Surgeons collection, forming part of the patient case records, amply demonstrate this.

The Queen's hospital administrative staff were also an important part of the Sidcup team. Not only are there group photographs of surgical staff and nurses, but of the ancillary staff too, which included Boy Scouts who acted as messengers.