News / Health
A tea party at the BRI to celebrate 70 years of the NHS
Nettie Jones can name the day that she started working for the NHS: August 31, 1981. Since then she has been a staff nurse, a senior staff nurse and ward manager, and is currently lead steward for the Royal College of Nursing at the BRI.
At a party on Thursday morning to celebrate 70 years of the NHS, Nettie had baked 1,000 scones and was in the restaurant on the ninth floor of the BRI with her son David.
“The NHS has been my lifelong employer,” said Nettie. “And it has provided me with my most precious thing, my son, who is now going to be paying back to the NHS because he is a junior doctor.”
Nettie Jones, lead steward for the Royal College of Nursing, and her son David Jones, a junior doctor
Nettie’s scones were arranged on tables in the restaurant with panoramic views over Bristol, with both patients and staff coming to the hospital from as far as the eye can see.
On another table soon after 7am, two colleagues were enjoying a cup of tea in fancy china cups before their shift started in the ENT (ear, nose and throat) outpatients ward.
Staff nurse Tina Southey trained at the BRI and is still here more than 30 years later. “I’m doing the job which I love doing,” she told Bristol24/7. “Today is a day for reflection.”
Staff nurses Tina Southey and Faye Clifford
For her colleague and fellow staff nurse, Faye Clifford, the best part of her job was that it is “very rewarding”. She added: “People comment that we’re like a family and I’m very proud of that.”
Also enjoying an early morning cuppa was Faye Dobson of Above & Beyond, fundraising for city centre hospitals including the BRI, St Michael’s and the Bristol Eye Hospital.
“The staff work so hard here,” Faye said. “They are here all day and all night. People sometimes take it for granted that the NHS is there for them.”
Faye Dobson is part of the Above & Beyond charity team
Pride in the NHS, in Bristol’s hospitals and in the work that they do was a theme of the morning as staff popped in before their shifts.
Jeff Farrar was the chief constable of Gwent Police before becoming chair of the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust last year.
“The pride from people working in this Trust is palpable when I walk around,” Jeff said. “It’s a great place for people to work and a great place to be treated.
“Health provision has to change, but today for me is about a celebration.”
Jeff Farrar joined the NHS after a 35-year career in the police service
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