Sally’s experience inspired a decades-long career

A nurse is hanging up her uniform for the last time after almost 50 years working for the NHS.

Sally Foster will work her last shift at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital on Boxing Day, after first stepping onto a ward in November 1978.

She has worked at hospitals across east Kent, many of which are long closed, including Nunnery Fields Hospital in Canterbury, Herne Hospital, Etchinghill Hospital in Folkestone, and the old Buckland in Dover.

But her career could have looked very different, as she originally wanted to be a hotel receptionist.

Sally, 66, who lives in Sturry, said: “I had my mind made up, but then I went in for minor surgery at Buckland Hospital and they looked after me really well.

“I said to my mum ‘I think I’d like to be a nurse’ and then that was it – I never looked back!”

The mum and grandmother completed Enrolled Nurse training, which was practical and based in hospitals including the Royal Victoria at Folkestone and Buckland.

She was one of the first to work at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford when it opened, and worked on care of the elderly wards at Etchinghill Hospital.

Sally said: “It is very different now – we didn’t have computers, of course, but we did have a Kardex that we completed each day for each patient.

“It was all hand-written and included what they had eaten and when they had their meds.

“The thermometers were mercury, so if you dropped one you had to get the mercury squad out with their special suits to clean it up.

“And we didn’t have a macerator, and spent a lot of time scrubbing bedpans!”

Sally remembers lining up for inspection by the nursing officer, who would check hats were straight and shoes were clean.

She said: “Everything is more relaxed now and we feel more like a team, which is a lot nicer. It was very formal then and you certainly wouldn’t call a colleague by their first name.”

After she married and moved to live in Canterbury with her husband, Sally worked at Herne Hospital before joining the flexibank at the K&C and working on a range of wards.

She then joined the stroke team at Nunnery Fields Hospital and moved to K&C when it closed, first on Treble ward then Kingston. After 30 years of nursing she decided to step back and work as a healthcare assistant.

She said: “I have loved it; it allows me to spend more time with the patients and their loved ones, and really build a rapport.

“We do a lot of rehab so that is important and you get to know people really well.

“Patient outcomes are improved from when I first started working in stroke; we didn’t have as many interventions back then as we do now.

“There are always patients that stick in your mind, going back years, for their different stories. You aren’t supposed to have favourites but we all do, and it’s lovely when someone comes back and says you have made a difference.”

Sally plans to enjoy more time with her grandchildren, as well as holidays with her husband, who has already retired.