WEDNESDAY, 10 MAY, 2017

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: PHOTOGRAPH ATTACHED – FIONA EDWARDS

PRI staff nurse retires after more than 40 years of service with the NHS

Staff nurse Fiona Edwards said a heartfelt farewell to her colleagues in Perth Royal Infirmary after more than 40 years of service within the NHS.

Fiona began her career by training at Kilmarnock Infirmary before doing her midwifery training in Aberdeen. She then took on a number of nursing and midwifery roles across hospitals in Scotland before taking on a staff nurse post in Tay Ward in PRI 23 years ago.

Tay Ward in PRI is part of the Medicine for the Elderly unit within the Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership. The ward provides rehabilitation from a multidisciplinary team for patients aged 65 years and over.

Fiona said she had enjoyed a rewarding career in Tay Ward and thanked her supportive team of colleagues.

She said, “The ward is very special to me and I will miss all of my colleagues. Tay is a great ward, everyone works well together as a team to give the best patient care and the staff always do their best to give relatives the support and information they need. I think it’s a good ward for newly qualified staff starting out in their career to learn skills and gain experience of different roles of practice in the ward.

“I will really miss all of my colleagues. I have enjoyed working for the NHS over all these years and I have found nursing to be a rewarding career.”

Fiona celebrated her retirement with around 40 current and former colleagues at an event in the Royal George Hotel in Perth, where she was presented with gifts and flowers.

Fiona added, “The retirement tea was a wonderful end to a wonderful career. I cannot commend Medicine for the Elderly consultant Dr Harper and all the staff at Tay Ward enough. I am so thankful to have been privileged to have been given the health to work with the team all these years. I want to thank everyone for their kindness to me.”

Senior charge nurse Shirley Wilcox said, “Fiona has worked in Tay Ward for 23 years and during that time she has always given her patients the highest standard of care and always made the patients’ comfort her top priority. Fiona will be missed by all her colleagues and we wish her well in her retirement.”

Contact:

Debbie Huband

NHS Tayside Communications

(01382) 740134