Published on: 10th September 2020
This year we’re celebrating 120 of our staff who’ve worked in the NHS for 20, 30 or 40 years. That’s an incredible combined total of 3,050 years’ service.
We caught up with a couple of them to hear about their memories, the biggest changes they’ve seen and what’s kept them in the NHS. Scroll down to see the full list of long servers.
Laura Langhorn, emotional wellbeing practitioner with Healthy Young Minds Oldham (40 years):
“When I started as a nurse, wards were silent for consultant ward rounds and nobody dared to question the doctors, matrons or ward sisters.
Thankfully there is now a much less authoritarian way of working, with more respect for each other’s skills.”
Karen Lewis, community learning disability nurse, Bury (30 years):
“The biggest change I have seen is a slow but gradual inclusion of individuals in planning their own care and future.
There has been a move away from the historical hierarchy of nursing which has allowed health practitioners and family members, who are directly involved in a person’s life, to have a voice.”
David Kerrick, healthcare assistant, Hague Ward, Tameside General Hospital (30 years):
“Working in mental health for so long can be hard work, but it’s so fulfilling and rewarding. There is no better feeling than seeing someone leave your care in a good place, mentally and physically well.”
Maria O'Brien, community mental health nurse, Stockport (20 years):
“I’m proud to be a mental health nurse and hope that the time I have spent with clients has empowered them to forge their own way towards their recoveries.
Each day is undoubtedly different and at times challenging; but I could not imagine doing anything else, it’s the best job in the world!”
40 years
Laura Langhorn
Alison Tabois
Tracey Smith
Diane Birchall
Gillian Ireland
Gary Fitton
Lesley Nolan
Adele Sergeant
30 years
Sharon Hollis
Sarah Brown
Carol Sorahan
Jean Sharpe
Jacqueline Conheeney
Derek Harding
Carol Gorton
Fiona Ibberson
Tracey Daniels
Jayne Brown
Sharon Furlong
Christine Binns
Carol-Ann McArdle
Katherine Hayden
Pauline MacDonald
Michele Ratcliff
Katherine Reid
Jacqueline Kindell
Sharon Murphy
Katherine Reid
Karen Wright
Donna Bradbury
Christine Ledger
David Kerrick
Janine Gokcen
Catherine Laverty
Janine Gokcen
Mark Murphy
Michelle McKendrey
Angela Kilduff
Gaynor Mullins
Donna Carr
Pamela Walker
Amanda Hicks
Anne Beels
Catherine Dickinson
Judith O'Brien
Tracey Clarke
Sarah Burlinson
Illekuttige Fernando
Julie Hammond
Mark Vickers
Kenneth Pearce
Hilary Woodbridge
Adrienne Foster
Nicola Meredith
20 years
Shahida Parveen
Joanne Rain
Julie Grumbridge
Caroline McIntosh
Lindsey Connolly
Keith Walker
Kyle Eastwood
Susannah Knight
Catherine Caton
Rachel Lightstone
Christian Johns
Jennifer Hodkinson
Jane Cohen
Deborah Worth
Kathy Phoenix
Sarah Hood
Jennifer Devine
Maria O'Brien
Jennifer Farrell
Jane Mather
Romaine Short
Nicola Gainsborough
Justin Farthing
Christopher McGagh
Ruth Dillnutt
Henry Ticehurst
Oriane Gammie
Michael Hamilton
Sawsan Moghazy
Sara Higgins
Deborah O'Leary
Janet Birtles
Andrea Blakley
Clare Maddison
Peter Wade
Kate Friedmann
David Brown
Marie Baistow
Lynne Chatterton
Chiara-Blythe Talbot
Susan Clarke
Angela Brown
Kirsty Pratt
Shirley Sneddon
Jacqueline McDermott
Rebecca Bland
Alison Lawton
Martin Fitzgerald
Louise Maddox Brown
Catherine Jones
Aisha Arshad
Amanda Chancellor-Walsh
Andrea Stansfield
Cheryl Algie
Eunice Fomuso
Elizabeth Chapman
Dawn Pugh
Nigel Fyles
Wendy Connolly
Fidelma Genesis
Carol Tait
Robert Walker
John Henstock
Stephen Vieites
Marie Turner
Karen Lewis