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Helen Ashton, the Author studied Medicine at London Hospital and served as Nurse in the First World War. This background is very evident in Yoeman's Hospital. She knows how hospital people talk. The goals, ambitions, experiences, intrigues and jealousies of nurses and doctors as portrayed in Yoeman's Hospital might be found in practically any hospital in any country with but few changes.
Some of the features and characters do not bring glory upon the medical profession, for example the incompetent but socially ambitious doctor son of “Old Mr. Groom,” and the obsolete method of nurse preparation.
The entire action takes place between two dawns in Yoeman's Hospital which is located in the small town of Wilchester, England. The hospital is old-fashioned, conservative, poorly financed and constructed, but paradoxically founded by a pirate who gave it it's name.
The human drama developed against this background is more slow moving than might be expected since by including the patients all types of individuals are pictured. One doctor who supplies romantic interest is not represented as appealing in any way according to feminine standards, but manages to capture the heart of a most attractive woman doctor. However the differences in the personalities supplies material for hospital gossip so has a purpose.
The difference in this novel seems to be that two purposes are embodied in the plot. One purpose is to point up the inevitability of socialized medicine due to post war conditions. Secondly, and not so forcefully brought out, is that women have to be accepted as responsible capable