When Sue Lee was surprised recently by a dozen or so maternity and cleaning colleagues who wanted to celebrate her 35th year in the NHS, it’s fair to say she didn’t hold back on the tears!
As she arrived on shift in the morning, she had no clue that her colleagues were planning a special tea party to celebrate her 35th anniversary as a cleaner at Musgrove Park Hospital.
Sue began her career as a weekend worker at the hospital when she was just 22 years old, a role she continued in until both her children went to school…it was at that point that she signed up to the staff bank.
“I originally took on a cleaning ‘floater’ role, which meant I’d work across many different areas of the hospital” she said.
“I must have been doing a good job as our then-cleaning manager offered me a permanent role in our maternity unit, which was fantastic!
During my time at Musgrove I’ve worked on so many wards across the hospital, some of which have since closed, as well as when our maternity building temporarily hosted the former (now long gone) Trinity older people’s unit.
During that time, Ward A (now Willow ward) and Ward C (now the maternity management corridor) needed to be closed, so I moved around a lot while other teams used the main maternity unit.
My favourite time at Musgrove has to be when we had the old clubhouse, which was on the site of where the Cedars multi-storey car park is, and we used to run our courses in there. It was so relaxing, and we often used to have gatherings outside of work too.
Looking back, I think it’s quite an achievement that I’ve reached 35 years at the hospital, and I actually didn’t even realise that I’d hit the milestone until my manager Kami told me on the morning I was interviewed for this story and had the celebration party!
My time here has gone really quickly and it feels like only yesterday that I was a fresh-faced 22 year old starting out on my career.
But you won’t see the back of me just yet as I have no plans to leave or retire, as I feel that working here is keeping me going…and I’ve made so many friends here too of course.
The tea party we had in the staff room was such a lovely surprise and it brought tears to my eyes that my fellow colleagues took time to arrange it, and celebrate my milestone with me – it makes a really difference as I went home thinking ‘wow everyone does care’.”
Kamila Cieniewicz, one of the cleaning team supervisors at Musgrove Park Hospital, who organised the celebration, added:
“I’m so grateful for all the support that Sue has given to me, and all of our maternity and cleaning colleagues.
There are just no words for the effort that she makes day in day out, and how kind and helpful she is to everyone.
It says a lot that if ever we need some friendly advice, then Sue tends to be the person most of us will go to!”
