Nurse celebrating 50 years has no plans to retire

Sue Baker, 68, began her training in August 1975

A Kent nurse whose career began four years before the hospital she works in was built intends to extend her 50 years of service and "carry on" as long as possible.

Sue Baker began her medical training in August 1975, four years before the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford opened.

The 68-year-old said she was determined to keep working "while I'm still fit enough to get out of bed", but admitted she was surprised by her longevity.

She said: "If someone had told me 50 years ago that I would still be working in a hospital, I would have told them they had lost the plot."

Ms Baker dreamt of being a nurse from a young age and went on to follow in her aunt's footsteps when she began her training at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital.

After moving to the William Harvey Hospital in 1986, she worked in the outpatients' department, particularly in clinics for cancer patients and endoscopy department.

The long-serving nurse said patient care was very different at the beginning of her career.

"Sometimes you would open the door to the day room, and you wouldn't be able to see which patients were in there as there was so much smoke," she said.

"At 18:00 BST, when we took the drug trolley round, we also had sherry for the ladies and beer for the men, and it was quite popular."

The mother of two, who has seven grandchildren and another due soon, is now a clinic assistant in the fracture clinic.

Little thought has been given to retirement, she said, though Ms Baker has reduced her hours to three mornings a week.