My role and function continued to change and develop and, during the 1970s, I was involved not only in the physical care of the child but also in the mixing and administration of chemotherapy. This extension of my role also included undertaking the placement of intravenous cannulae. Training for these skills was developed ‘in house’ by committed nurse leaders. Some nurses argued that this development was nothing more than taking on doctors’ tasks. Thankfully those who were more enlightened could see the benefit to patient care by extending our expertise. This was also a time when collaboration and teamwork began to develop and the role of the nurse was strengthened as credence was given to the nurse’s contribution to the overall management: views on patient care were acknowledged and sought. Nurses at my institution and others were instrumental in the development of programmes to enable children to have painful procedures carried out under general anaesthesia. Before this development most centres were using a cocktail of sedative drugs; this combination was often ineffective for pain control and the effects left the child sleepy for the rest of the day.