Irene Slater Hall MBE (1888 – 1961) was an Australian hospital matron who over 40 years became "synonymous" with the former Royal Newcastle Hospital.

Life

Hall was born in New South Wales at

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 24,096 according to the 2021 Census. Its growth as a seaside resort came after the villages of Upper Ryde and ...

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. Nellie Gould and Sister Julia Bligh Johnston ran the private Ermelo Private Hospital in Sydney. Hall was a nurse there in 1907 before she began training at Sydney Hospital the following year. She completed her training in 1913. 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 "synonymous 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. When the ''Matrons' Handbook of Lectures to Trainees'' was published in 1935 she was the editor. She first attended the

International Council of Nurses The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations. It was founded in 1899 and was the first international organization for :Health care occupations, health care professionals. It is headqua ...

congress in 1937. She later went to the congress in Atlantic City in 1947. Under the hospital's innovative medical superintendent, Chris McCaffrey, introduced initially unpopular reforms to nursing made with the help of Hall. 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 The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

Death and legacy

She retired in 1958. In 1960 the Royal Newcastle Hospital's ''Irene Hall Nurses' Home'' was opened in Newcastle. Hall died in 1961 in the Royal Newcastle Hospital.

References

External links

Biography at the ADB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Irene Slater 1888 births 1961 deaths Health professionals from Sydney Australian nurses Australian women nurses Australian women