Florence Nightingale – IELTS Reading Answers

Kasturika Samanta

12 min read

Updated On Aug 09, 2024

Explore the Reading Passage of Florence Nightingale, along with explanations in this post & prepare to achieve your desired score for your IELTS Reading exam.

Reading Passage
Answers of Florence Nightingale Reading Answers With Location and Explanations
Tips to Solve the Question Types in Florence Nightingale IELTS Reading Answers

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With the diligent practice of passages like Reading Answers of Florence Nightingale, the Reading Module can be the top-scoring category for IELTS aspirants. To score well, you must understand how to approach and answer the different question types in the Reading Module.

The Reading passage, Florence Nightingale, is an IELTS reading passage that consists of 13 questions. The questions in the IELTS passages are divided into sets, each of which involves the completion of a specific type of work.

So, let’s see how easy this passage is for you and if you’re able to make it in 20 minutes. If not, try more IELTS reading practice tests.

The question types found in this passage are:

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Reading Passage

You should spend 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the Reading Passage below.

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale, the daughter of the wealthy landowner, William Nightingale of Embly Park, Hampshire, was born in Florence, Italy, on 12th May, 1820. Her father was a Unitarian and a Whig who was involved in the anti-slavery movement. As a child, Florence was very close to her father, who, without a son, treated her as his friend and companion. He took responsibility for her education and taught her Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, history, philosophy, and mathematics.

Florence refused to marry several suitors, and at the age of twenty-five told her parents she wanted to become a nurse. Her parents were totally opposed to the idea as nursing was associated with working class women.

Florence’s desire to have a career in medicine was reinforced when she met Elizabeth Blackwell at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, Blackwell was the first woman to qualify as a doctor in the United States. Blackwell, who had to overcome considerable prejudice to achieve her ambition, encouraged her to keep trying and in 1851 Florence’s father gave her permission to train as a nurse.

Florence, now thirty-one, went to Kaiserwerth, Germany where she studied to become a nurse at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses. Two years later she was appointed resident lady superintendent of a hospital for invalid women in Harley Street, London.

In March, 1853, Russia invaded Turkey. Britain and France, concerned about the growing power of Russia, went to Turkey’s aid. This conflict became known as the Crimean War. Soon after British soldiers arrived in Turkey, they began going down with cholera and malaria. Within a few weeks an estimated 8,000 men were suffering from these two diseases.

When The Times published the fact that a large number of British soldiers were dying of cholera there was a public outcry, and the government was forced to change its mind about the situation. Nightingale volunteered her services and was eventually given permission to take a group of thirty-eight nurses to Turkey.

Nightingale found the conditions in the army hospital in Scutari appalling. The men were kept in rooms without blankets or decent food. Unwashed, they were still wearing their army uniforms that were “stiff with dirt and gore”. In these conditions, it was not surprising that, in army hospitals, war wounds accounted for one death in six. However, diseases such as typhus, cholera and dysentery were the main reasons why the death-rate was so high amongst wounded soldiers.

Military officers and doctors objected to Nightingale’s views on reforming military hospitals. They interpreted her comments as an attack on their professionalism and she was made to feel unwelcome. Nightingale received very little help from the military until she used her contacts at The Times to report details of the way that the British Army treated its wounded soldiers. John Delane, the editor of the newspaper, took up her cause, and after a great deal of publicity, Nightingale was subsequently given the task of organizing the barracks hospital after the battle of Inkerman, By improving the quality of the sanitation she was able to dramatically reduce the death-rate of her patients.

In 1856 Florence Nightingale returned to England as a national heroine. She had been deeply shocked by the lack of hygiene and elementary care that the men received in the British Army. Nightingale therefore decided to begin a campaign to improve the quality of nursing in military hospitals. In October, 1856, she had a long interview with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the following year gave evidence to the 1857 Sanitary Commission. This eventually resulted in the formation of the Army Medical College.

To spread her opinions on reform, Nightingale published two books, Notes on Hospital (1859) and Notes on Nursing (1859). With the support of wealthy friends and John Delane at The Times, Nightingale was able to raise £59,000 to improve the quality of nursing. In 1860, she used this money to found the Nightingale School and Home for Nurses at St. Thomas’s Hospital. She also became involved in the training of nurses for employment in the workhouses that had been established as a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act.

In later life, Florence Nightingale suffered from poor health and in 1895 went blind. Soon afterwards, the loss of other faculties meant she had to receive full-time nursing. Although a complete invalid, she lived another fifteen years before her death in London on 13th August, 1910.

Questions 1-7

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?

In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet, write:

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1 Florence’s father would rather have had a son.

2 Florence was determined to study medicine.

3 She helped disabled women after training in Germany.

4 Florence was not able to wash when working in a hospital in Turkey.

5 No food was given to the soldiers in the hospital.

6 John Delane was a wealthy man.

7 In 1856, Florence had an interview for a job.

Questions 8-10

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet.

8 Florence rejected the advances of ……………… because she wanted to become a nurse.

9 Florence was encouraged to study medicine by America’s first female ……………… .

10 After returning to England from Turkey, she realised that the quality of nursing had to be ………………….. .

Questions 11-13

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

11 What disease did many soldiers die from?

A typhus

B cholera

C dysentery

D all of the above

12 What reaction best describes doctors’ feelings towards Florence’s views on military hospitals?

A they supported her

B they disagreed with her

C they welcomed her

D they physically attacked her

13 What did she do in 1857?

A have an interview with Queen Victoria.

B start the Army Medical College

C talk to the Sanitary Commission

D publish two books

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