U.K.: Twins Give Patients A Double Dose of Nursing

SOUTH WARWICKSHIRE (Coventry Telegraph), October 22, 2007: Idential twins Pamela and Christine Davy started nursing on the same day in the same year AND married cousins with the same surname. But working together at Royal Leamington Spa Rehabilitation Hospital has caused confusion among patients - especially as one sister works days, and the other nights. Pamela said: "For those who didn't really know us that well, patients on the wards used to think that we did 24-hour shifts, which, for us, was very amusing." The sisters, who have worked for the NHS in Warwickshire for more than 30 years, were honoured at Warwickshire Primary Care Trust's long service awards ceremony. Pamela and Christine, aged 54, from Leamington, have not looked back since they gave up working as typists at 18 to embark on a career in nursing. "We both saw an ad in the local paper in 1971 and just fancied a change in career. When we arrived on the first day of our nurse training we both knew that we had made the right decision by leaving our roles as typists behind," said Pamela. Pamela, the eldest twin by 15 minutes, has been a nurse for 33 years and works nights at Royal Leamington Spa Rehabilitation Hospital. Christine, a nurse for 32 years, is also based at the rehabilitation hospital but works in the day as a community continence nurse. Pamela says Christine is not only her sister but her best friend. She said: "Because we are so close and work in the same field, we have always been able to share things about work as well as personal issues, which has been lovely. "We've seen huge differences over the last 30 years. The life expectancy of the average person has increased from around 70 and now we are treating those well into their 80s and 90s." The long-service ceremony, at Moreton Hall, Moreton Morrell, also celebrated the long-service achievements of 90 other PCT employees. © Copyright Midland Newspapers Limited 2007