For 3 years in the 70’s I was in charge of the Royal Bank Branch inside the Infirmary. It was situated on the Main Surgical Corridor. It was a small space one larger room and a small interview room. There were 10 of us male and female with no facilities. We had a key to a toilet along the corridor and we had a kettle to make our morning coffee!!! Would this be allowed today?

This was the days of no digital banking or cashline machines and the vast majority of business was carried out in cash. It was a requirement of Lothian Health Board that every employee must have a bank account into which was paid their wage or salary. Some were paid on a weekly basis but the majority were paid monthly. Not many customers had a current account with a cheque book and the majority had deposit accounts with a pass book. These books had to be presented and made up to date before any cash could be given out.

Our Deposit Account Ledgers were still hand posted. On the night before the monthly pay day we received a print out of all the wages and we worked overtime to have the ledgers posted up to date before the morning rush. At 9.30am on Thursdays for the weekly paid and on pay day for the monthly paid there would be a long queue along the corridor. In many cases with the weekly paid what was paid in was taken out and nothing left!!!

I think that we were the only people in the Infirmary who were not employed by LHB but we were well accepted as part of the establishment. I look back on my days in RIE with affection having worked with some excellent people and having met some top class medical people at all levels. It was a place of excellence and many of the top people in medicine worked there.