Royal retirement for Barnstaple nurse

BARNSTAPLE nurse Liz Oldfield celebrated her retirement in style – with a date at Buckingham Palace. Liz, the Lead Outpatient Nurse at the North Devon District Hospital, was invited to a royal garden party at the palace in recognition of her 34 years ser

BARNSTAPLE nurse Liz Oldfield celebrated her retirement in style - with a date at Buckingham Palace.

Liz, the Lead Outpatient Nurse at the North Devon District Hospital, was invited to a royal garden party at the palace in recognition of her 34 years service in the National Health Service.

She was nominated for a palace invitation by colleagues at the hospital, where she has worked for past 25 years, after first joining the NHS in Staffordshire.

The long-serving nurse started her career working two nights a week as a healthcare assistant and quickly became hooked on the job.

"I enjoy looking after people. If someone's hurting, I find it easy to comfort them," she said. "When I came to North Devon as a healthcare assistant in 1984, I got a lot of encouragement to do my nursing training. The NHS has changed so much - as nurses we've had move forward at the speed that medicine changes and to embrace that change. There's more paperwork now and we see patients in less time. But patient care is always the first priority of nursing - and this will never change.

"I was over the moon when the invitation came through from Buckingham Palace. It was a lovely day. In fact, it's been such an exciting end to my career, with a garden party at the palace and to go out thinking that I still love my job."

Rel3

Page 131/07/2009