Yahoo Finance Marlene Littlewood obituary
My friend and colleague Marlene Littlewood, who has died after a long illness aged 79, was a compassionate, hard-working and expert nurse, fiercely protective of patients, standards of NHS practice and the welfare of her staff.
Marlene was born in Netherton, Worcestershire, younger daughter of Alf Hughes, an Austin Motors metal stamper, and his wife, Alice, of Black Country stock. An alert and studious pupil at Rowley Regis grammar school, she joined the St John’s Ambulance Brigade and, at the age of 16, Guest hospital in Dudley, as a nursing cadet. She rose early through the NHS nursing grades and qualified soon as a theatre sister. In 1962 she married Eric Littlewood, an ambulance man, and they subsequently raised a family in Wollescote.
The reorganisation of health services in the Midlands resulted in the planned closure of surgery at Guest hospital. Consequently in 1982 she was appointed to Wordsley hospital, Stourbridge, where, as a recently appointed consultant, I was then engaged in setting up the new gastroenterology department. Thereafter Marlene became an indespensable support and supervisor of the investigation unit there, assuming responsibility for new forms of endoscopy and other gastrointestinal test procedures.
As well as overseeing the subsequent transition from fibre-optic to video technology, and the frequent and bewildering changes in instrument disinfection protocols, she advised on the design of the successor department at our new district general hospital, then under construction at Russells Hall, Dudley.
Even before the transfer of our Wordsley department to Russells Hall hospital in 1983, she had foreseen the need for specialist nurse training. This resulted in her creating a regional training scheme (the British Endoscopy Education Society, BEES), one subsequently adopted by Wolverhampton University, and later her recognition as a clinical nurse specialist.
Marlene retired in 2000, but continued, despite failing cardiovascular health, to engage in a wide range of charitable and community activities.
She is survived by Eric, their sons, Ivan and Philip, and grandchildren, Holly and Jake.
