Farewell and happy retirement Gillian | News

Emergency Department (ED) receptionist Gillian MacDonald, 81, will wave goodbye at the end of this month to Royal Surrey after clocking up an amazing 20 years of service at the Trust and 38 years working for the NHS.

Gillian, who was born a few streets away from the Trust, left school at 15 to work in a draughtsmanship office and joined the ED reception team at May Day Hospital (now Croydon University Hospital) in 1983.

After taking early retirement from Croydon Hospital, Gillian moved back to Guildford but quickly decided she needed more to do and contacted Royal Surrey’s ED for work.

She said: “Even though I’d just retired, I knew I still wanted to contribute and use the knowledge I’d learnt in Croydon, so I came up to Royal Surrey one day and asked if they needed any help.

“The manager said yes and asked what I could do and I said I could work nights, days and evenings and they were very happy to accept my offer. The rest is history.

“The work can definitely be challenging and people are obviously very stressed when they come into ED, but it’s important to just have patience. You have to want to help people and look after them, just do your best. It is a rewarding job, too.”

Looking ahead to the second retirement of her career, Gillian has plans to improve her fitness before having a knee operation later in the year and tackle some home improvements, as well as fitting in some rest time.

She said: “I’m looking forward to having some me time. I haven’t been able to see my friends that much recently, well none of us have really, have we? I am feeling a bit sad about retiring to be honest though, and I’ve felt quite tearful every time I think about it, I’m really going to miss all my work colleagues.”

Lisa Gadsby, Reception Manager in the Emergency Department, said: “I want to say a massive thank you to Gillian for her 20 years of dedication to the Trust. She is always so kind and patient, no matter how hectic ED is, and she has been a constant inspiration to the rest of the team. She’s also incredibly supportive to colleagues when times are stressful or challenging. We are all going to miss her greatly but wish her a very well-deserved peaceful and happy retirement.”