Catherine Jane Wood was an English nurse, collaborator to Charles West in the early years of the Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, and pioneer of pediatric nursing.
Catherine Jane Wood (18 June 1841 – 14 June 1930) was an English nurse, collaborator to Charles West in the early years of the Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, and pioneer of pediatric nursing.
Career
In the summer of 1863, Catherine Jane Wood started to frequent the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) as a sister, under the supervision of the superintendent Isabella Babb.
In the spring of 1864, after only one year, she was nominated ward superintendent thanks to her proven skills.
From 1865 or 1866, Catherine Jane Wood with her colleague Jane Spencer Percival were dragged into the project of a new hospital, created to host children affected by joint diseases. In March 1867, the new Hospital, initially called "The House of Relief for Children with Chronic Diseases of the Joints”, opened in the Queen Square. It was a small Hospital equipped with only ten beds. In 1881 the Hospital changed its name to “The Alexandra Hospital for Children with Hip Disease” in honour of its main supporter: the future Queen Alexandra.
