Nurse Nancy helped train generations of lifesavers

Published on Tuesday 10 November 2009 08:31

Nancy MacLeod Nicol, a former nursing head of continuing education, has died aged 70.

Miss MacLeod Nicol was a nursing officer at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary before taking up the teaching post at Lothian College of Health Studies, now part of Napier University.

She was born in Edinburgh on 31 July 1939, the eldest daughter of James and Isabel MacLeod Nicol, and educated at the Mary Erskine School for girls, where she enjoyed sports and played for the golf team.

She also spent many happy childhood holidays in Aberdour, Fife, and Ireland.

After leaving school, she became a nursing student at the Princess Margaret Rose hospital. She then undertook further training at the ERI, and trained in midwifery at the Elsie Inglis Memorial Hospital. She then returned to the Princess Margaret Rose hospital to work as a night sister in orthopaedics.

Miss MacLeod Nicol then turned to teaching and took the clinical instructor's course at the Royal College of Nursing in Edinburgh. She taught at the Princess Margaret Rose hospital, Edinburgh College of Commerce and the South Edinburgh School of Nursing.

She spent some time working as a nursing officer at the ERI, where she was in charge of four medical wards and three outpatient departments. But she decided to return to teaching, and was appointed as senior nursing officer for in-service education with south Lothian district.

When the unit became part of South Lothian College of Nursing and Midwifery in 1983, Miss MacLeod Nicol undertook the nurse teacher's course at Jordanhill. After completing her diploma, she returned as senior nurse tutor. She was appointed head of continuing education at the Lothian College of Health Studies in 1991. She was also a member of the Royal College of Nursing between 1988 and 1993.

As well as her teaching career, she contributed to the book Basic Management for Staff Nurses and invented Adminstrivia, a nurse management game.

Nancy's other interest main was the Girl Guides, where she was a committed and enthusiastic member. She was an active member of St Anne's Church for most of her life, where she served as an elder.

She was also a keen member of the Clan MacLeod Society, where she held almost every official post in Scotland. She planned and organised Clan MacLeod gatherings in Skye for more than 500 people and wrote a short history of the associated Clan MacLeod societies entitled Tell Your Children About the Stones.

Friends and family say Nancy will be remembered for her incorrigible sense of humour, enquiring mind and great zest for life. She is survived by her sister, Noel, and her niece Elizabeth, as well as many friends.