This National employee appreciation day we share an outstanding story of a retirement event held for ten hospital domestics who have jointly accumulated 363 years of NHS service.
On Thursday 29 February, a day which only comes around every four years, an equally rare achievement was celebrated at the university hospital of North Tees where colleagues gathered to bid farewell to ten well known faces around the organisation.
Joined by members of the senior team at NTH Solutions, the subsidiary of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, we wished a happy retirement to domestics Liz Russell, Betty Todd, Maureen Leonard, Wendy Turnbull, Marion Hyde, Karen Brown and Judith Heslop. Also retiring, are Facilities team leaders Sheilagh Williams and Trish Hodgeson.
A special mention was made to retiring former domestic and training manager, Mary Davies, who has worked for the organisation for 47 years and has led the way for our domestics throughout her time here with us. Mary was described as an exceptional role model, a fantastic leader and an inspiration to our younger workforce.
The ten domestics, who worked between both North Tees & Hartlepool hospital sites, have shown nothing but outstanding dedication during their time spent working at the Trust.
Director of Operations, Graeme Kelly who came to thank the ladies for their commitment to the organisation said: “This is a milestone and we couldn’t miss the opportunity to celebrate. We would like to wish you all a happy retirement, it’s been a pleasure and we hope you all come back to visit us and to share your words of wisdom. You will all be fondly remembered”.
Also in attendance was Head of Operations, Natalie Wintersgill, who started her career as a domestic assistant herself, added: “363 years of service shouldn’t go unnoticed. I appreciate everything you’ve done for us as we couldn’t have done it without you”. Natalie joked that ‘zero hour contracts would be available’ for anyone who would like to return.
The ladies enjoyed an afternoon tea-style buffet provided by the hospital catering team and each shared gifts and shed a few tears.
From all of us at NTH Solutions, we wish our retiring domestics all the very best. You have all contributed so much to our organisation is so many different ways and we are so appreciative of that.
