Dedicated staff thanked for 40 years of NHS service

Long-standing hospital and community services staff at Rochdale, Bury, Oldham, Salford, and North Manchester have been thanked for 40 dedicated years of service.

Certificates were presented to 60 long serving staff members at a special ceremony at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, to say thank you to all the Northern Care Alliance staff who have worked for 40 years and over in numerous different professions, from medicine to nursing, midwifery, radiology, catering, laundry, administration, estates and others.

Senior directors from each of the Northern Care Alliance’s Care Organisations in Salford, Oldham, Bury, Rochdale and North Manchester handed out certificates to staff from their own hospitals and community services and thanked them for their hard work.

Staff presented with certificates from Rochdale Infirmary were: Stephen Lowe (theatres), Robert Rosbottom (theatres), Fiona Lord (endoscopy unit), Amanda Ingham (dietetics) and Janet Lord (diabetic retinopathy).

Raj Jain, Chief Executive Officer at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group said: “I would like to say a big thank you to all our staff who have completed 40 years’ service or longer, on behalf of the executives at the Northern Care Alliance.

“It was my privilege to stand before them, present them with their certificates, and thank them for serving the populations they have served, so diligently, for so many years.

“I would also like to thank them personally for all for their tremendous hard work over the years.”

The Northern Care Alliance brings together the Salford Royal and Pennine Acute hospital trusts, with a workforce of over 17,000 staff.

After the presentations, staff were treated to a lavish hot buffet and a selection of sandwiches and cold beverages, tea, coffee and a choice of cakes, and staff mingled together and swapped stories of days gone by.

Reminiscing on their long service

• Arthur Genesis – Grounds and gardens supervisor – Bury and Rochdale Care Organisation

The ability to climb a tree won Arthur his job in the NHS in 1979.

Responding to a job advert in the local newspaper, he was one of six applicants who turned up for an interview to become a gardener at Birch Hill Hospital in Rochdale.

He said: “The foreman asked if I could climb a tree. I replied yes, so then he asked if I could climb a tree in a boiler suit. I said yes again so then I had to prove that I could actually do it.”

Successfully climbing the tree, Arthur was given the job on a six months trial.  Forty years later he is the grounds and gardens supervisor covering Fairfield General Hospital and Rochdale Infirmary.

Arthur continued: “I enjoy what I do and I would highly recommend working here. I have seen many changes over my career and the site that I started off working on is now a housing estate.

“I oversee the grounds maintenance at Fairfield and Rochdale and they are fantastic sites with great teams maintaining them. Even though I manage the team I do still occasionally put my working boots on and help with the grass cutting, although I draw the line at climbing trees now.”