Three generations of NHS service

We will be celebrating by sharing stories from some of our STH colleagues to mark the big birthday.

Our first story features Maureen, a retired STH colleague who was the first of three generations of NHS workers and remembers life before the NHS…

Maureen Kirby, 84, from Hillsborough, was the first of three generations to have NHS careers. Maureen worked in the Theatre Surgical Sterile Unit (TSSU) at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital for 22 years and spent six years working at Middlewood Hospital in Laundry before that. Her daughter, Susan, who has over 40 years NHS service, also spent time working at the TSSU at the Hallamshire before going on to become a Consultant Anaesthetist in London. Maureen’s three granddaughters Laura, Emma and Amy also work at STH in Critical Care and Communications and have almost 40 years of service between them.

Other people in Maureen’s family who work in the NHS include her grandson Karl, who is a Operating Department Practitioner who has been working in the NHS since 2008, her niece Debbie who is PA to a Consultant at the Hallamsire Hospital, her daughter in law, Sue, who worked as a Receptionist at the Northern General

Metabolic Bone Unit for 16 years, her son-in-law, Andrew, who is a Professor Nephrologist and her grandson-in law, Rob, who is a GP.

Maureen said: “I can remember being a little girl and my mam having to pay a shilling for me to have a check up - if you didn’t have the money you had to go without, so I can fully appreciate what the NHS does for us all. It’s absolutely marvellous that we have these fantastic services which have saved the lives of my loved ones many times over the years for which I am truly thankful.

“I am proud to have worked at the Hallamshire for a big part of my working life, the TSSU was a great place to work, my job was to clean the instruments for the theatres. I remember a surgeon once invited me to walk round the wards with him as part of the team, he introduced me to patients and said I made a real difference to the workings of the hospital. “I am also so pleased that my family have made careers doing all sorts of different jobs here in Sheffield and down in London. Happy Birthday NHS!”

Colleague born the same year as the NHS celebrates 55 years of service

Our second story comes from Malcolm Littlewood, Interim Head of Procurement Projects at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Malcolm, who will turn 75 this year alongside the NHS, will celebrate an amazing 55 years of NHS Service in 2023. Malcolm started his career in 1969 at the age of 20 as a Clerical Officer in Supplies for Middlewood Hospital in Sheffield.

“Back then the hospital was a like a little village with its own butchers, car wash and gardens. I stumbled into the job as a young man looking for work but enjoyed it so much I continued to work in NHS Procurement across the region for the next five decades.”

Malcolm went on to become Head of Procurement for a number of NHS Trusts including Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS), Tameside, Chesterfield and Sheffield Health and Social Care before taking up his current post after retiring (and getting bored!) two years ago.

“I’ve been around as long as the NHS and I’d like to think that I have always kept the patients we serve in mind throughout my roles. Things have changed in terms of technology helping us out but the overall principals of good procurement have not changed over the years.”