Nurse marking 50 years has 'loved every minute'

Trish Gwennap started her career in healthcare in 1975

A nurse who is celebrating half a century working for the NHS said it had gone in a "blink of an eye".

Trish Gwennap worked her way up through a variety of nursing roles over the years, spending 43 years working as an assistant nurse and children's nurse at West Cornwall Hospital.

Her career in healthcare began as a domestic cleaner at St Michael's Hospital in Hayle in Cornwall in 1975.

She said she had "loved every minute" and her proudest moment in her career had been seeing a former child she cared for go on to train and qualify as a children's nurse herself.

Trish Gwennap worked as a children's nurse at West Cornwall Hospital in spring 1998

Ms Gwennap trained as a student nurse in Essex and went on to work as a healthcare assistant at West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance before working as a children's nurse, where she met her husband in 1998.

She said a friend filled out an application form for her to do the training.

"My friend wanted to do her training and the first I knew about it was when I had a letter to say I had been accepted for an interview," she said.

"I think the most wonderful thing about it was working in an area where I actually knew a lot of the people I was looking after.

"It seemed like a good thing to do because I was helping friends and people that I knew.

"I loved every minute of it, it fitted me, and I enjoyed it so much."

Reflecting on her 50 years of service with the NHS, she said: "It's just gone in the blink of an eye."