Around 70 NHS Forth Valley staff, with a total of 2080 years service between them, received a Long Service Award after achieving 20, 30 or 40 years service. They attended a special award ceremony at Forth Valley Royal Hospital to celebrate their long careers working for the NHS. The event was hosted by NHS Forth Valley Chairman, Alex Linkston and Chief Executive Cathie Cowan and each member of staff received a specially designed certificate and pin badge.
Two short videos, available on the multimedia section of the NHS Forth Valley website, together with a presentation from a 30 year award winner helped highlight the varying careers and experiences of staff across the organisation.
The 40 year award video showed Irene Warnock, former Head of Community Nursing reflecting on her years in the NHS. She remembers receiving a letter at the start of her career asking her to report for duty with two pairs of brown shoes, brown tights and white Kirby grips to keep her hat in place!
Sandra Campbell, Macmillan Nurse Consultant for Palliative Care in Forth Valley, celebrating 30 years service with the NHS, spoke about her commitment to cancer care. A national award winner, she has led the development of a number of partnerships which have resulted in many successes, including the Macmillan benefits service in Forth Valley and the One-to-One service which offers support and advice to people who have recently undergone treatment for cancer.
The 20 year award video featured Consultant Physician Dr Jeykumar Selwyn. Dr Selwyn, who cares for older patients, started singing at the tender age of five when he was a choirboy at St John’s Cathedral, Nazareth in the diocese of Toticorin, India. Today he continues to make music, in the company of his wife, son and daughter who have formed a gospel group known as the Sunbeam Singers which has raised thousands of pounds for charity.
NHS Forth Valley Chairman Alex Linkston said: “It was a pleasure to present these awards to staff and gave me the opportunity to say a personal thank you for their long and dedicated service to the NHS. The staff who attended this year’s award ceremony came from many different backgrounds and it was fascinating to listen to their personal stories and hear about some of the changes they had witnessed during their long NHS careers.”
A total of 72 staff received long service awards – 12 for 40 years service, 40 for 30 years service and 20 for 20 years service. The largest proportion were from the nursing and midwifery department.
