Staff celebrate long service

More than 800 years of long service were celebrated at the Trust’s annual Long Service Awards ceremony on Thursday 4 December. The awards recognise staff who have worked for Guy’s and St Thomas’ for a minimum of 25 years.

A total of 35 staff collected awards from Chairman, Hugh Taylor who presented them with gold badges. They included a wide range of staff from nursing, portering, hospitality, HR and administration.

Practice development nurse Marie Richter joined the Trust in the 1980s as a children’s staff nurse before moving into neonatal nursing caring for premature babies and babies with heart conditions. The neonatal intensive care unit is now twice its original size and is still growing. Marie develops and trains student and qualified nurses in the neonatal unit.

Marie says: “I feel very proud that I have worked here for so long. I don’t know where the years have gone but I have seen a lot of changes. I love my job. It is great to see staff develop and I work with some lovely people.”

Senior medical equipment engineer Mo Elaziou, has maintained thousands of items of vital medical equipment at St Thomas’ in 25 years.

His colleagues describe him as an exceptionally dedicated individual, sometimes coming in on his days off to ensure that the equipment on the wards is functioning properly and also buying spare parts in his own time.

Mo says: “The best thing about my job is that it is always challenging and I am always learning new things. I love tackling difficult problems and helping people.”

Paula Daly who works for Director of Workforce Ann Macintyre, is described as, “a top class executive assistant who always exceeds expectations in her role. She is one of life’s cheerful and optimistic individuals, who exudes confidence in what she does.”Paula says: “I feel like I have grown up here, as in the time that I have worked here I have got married and have had two children. So my life has changed a lot. I’ve got to know so many different staff and have enjoyed the variety of my job. It is challenging at times, but I enjoy being busy so I am in the perfect job.”

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Hugh Taylor said: “Congratulations to all of you. This is a fantastic opportunity to recognise and reward the staff who have dedicated so many years working here. Your commitment has helped us to provide excellent services to patients and staff.”