Eileen Burbridge, Theatre Manager at Royal Preston Hospital, admits being a nurse was all she ever wanted to do - and after a half century in the NHS, she has decided to take a well-earned retirement.
Eileen, a typically forthright and proud Yorkshirewoman who hails from near Barnsley, reached her milestone last month.
Back in January, Eileen’s fellow Theatre Manager Ros Aspinall also celebrated 50 years with the NHS, but while Ros admitted she has no plans to finish just yet, Eileen is to sign off from a remarkable career at the end of this month.
Eileen started out as a cadet, training at the old Preston Royal Infirmary, Sharoe Green Hospital and Whittingham Hospital on September 2 1974, and she looked back fondly on her early years: “I always wanted to be a nurse from about the age of 6. My cousin was a nurse and my mum was training to be a nurse when she married my dad and gave it up. It’s all I ever wanted to do.
“I trained at the old PRI, Sharoe Green, and Whittingham – fantastic meat pies, and pickled onions in the club on a Friday! Our college days were at Alston Hall in Longridge, which was beautiful.”
Having begun Registered General Nurse training, Eileen did wonder whether she could pursue her dream, before being urged to return: “I briefly gave up at 21 as I didn’t think I could be responsible for people’s lives at that age, so I went to work in the prescription pricing bureau in the Lostock Hall Medical Centre, so still NHS-based.
“I then went to work at Peter Craig’s mail order services in Preston, where I met a girl who had been on the same training course, got pregnant and gave it up. She asked if I wished I could go back - she said, ‘I can’t, but there’s nothing stopping you!’ and I reapplied and got in at Wythenshawe for my State-Enrolled Nurse training.”
Going to Wythenshawe would
be a life-changing experience: “I went there, did the theatre course, and met my husband Colin, who was a porter. We got married in 1983 and I did the first 52-week conversion course in Britain in 1986, where you resigned from post and converted from SEN to Registered General Nurse. We beat Tameside to be the first by three weeks!
“Then you were an SRN (State Registered Nurse) or an SEN, but they brought in that course, which was really intense. There were 300 applicants for 10 places, with two interview rounds.
“I worked as a staff nurse on a gynae ward, we lived in Sale Moor but moved back here when my son Liam was two, so I’ve been here 34 years.”
Eileen has enjoyed numerous highlights and achievements during her 50 years in the NHS, and she smiled: “I have some fantastic memories, both Ros and I lived in the era where you lived in the nurses’ home and there was a proper camaraderie and friendship.
“Doing the conversion course was a highlight, and also meeting my husband of course. We’ve been married 41 years and together for 44.
“I was also involved with the commission of the vascular theatres here. I went to Germany and London to look at the theatres, to look at different variations, along with the surgeons, radiologists and radiographers. We helped design them and ensured that we incorporated windows as the research showed that it is better for reducing stress levels and helping with sleeping. I’m proud of that, before that we didn’t really have a vascular service. We all did a really good job with those.”
Eileen is looking forward to spending more time with her family, and her “boring” hobbies!: “This is all I’ve ever known, but I’m calling it a day, I have retired and returned before when I was 60, but I’m 67 now, it’s time. I cross stitch and make chocolate, all the boring stuff! I just want to spend time with my husband while we’re both fit and healthy and see my two beautiful grandchildren.”
