I was born at St George’s Hospital in Tooting. My mother came to the UK from Ghana in 1962, worked in various London hospitals for many years as a registered general nurse, a registered midwife and registered children’s nurse. My daughter now works as a physiotherapist in the NHS.
I have worked in the NHS for over 30 years. My first job was as a pre-registration pharmacist at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust based at St Thomas’ Hospital. I have worked in many of the large teaching hospitals in London including Barts Health NHS Trust and St George’s University Hospitals NHS Trust as well as in various community pharmacies across South West London.
The best bit of working in the NHS is the camaraderie with my work colleagues and the joy of helping patients. Patient experiences can be very humbling.
So far, the highlight of my career is working on the Covid vaccination programme. I worked with so many wonderful colleagues, patients, communities, volunteers, carers,
advocates, families, community leaders, and even an airline pilot! We identified the need to work with our communities and delivered our services in a highly inclusive way. We
worked with our patients in a way I had never experienced and it was very rewarding.
Every day we felt a real sense of achievement no matter how challenging our days had been. Our patients appreciated us and that was all that mattered and kept us motivated. We immunised people age five to 95 and we did it to the highest standards thanks to our collective dedication and care.
As we celebrate 75 years of the NHS, I feel proud to work in and receive care from such a great organisation. I hope we continue the good work we do to listen and empower our patients, so they can help us deliver the best care to them regardless of their background, race, gender or faith.
The NHS belongs to us all, it is precious and is always there for us whether we are in good health and need immunisation, monitoring or health education or when we need good quality healthcare, available to all and provided with a smile by a fantastic team of professional, caring staff and volunteers.
Happy Birthday to our great NHS, may it live to a 100 and receive a telegram from the King.