Nurse director retires after 37 years
NHS Western Isles Nurse Director Chris Anne Campbell has retired after 37 years of service to the NHS.
From Port of Ness, Isle of Lewis, Chris Anne trained as a student nurse at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in 1976. Once qualified, she worked in various theatre wards at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary before returning to her home islands with husband Torquil at the beginning of 1982, working in theatre in the former Lewis Hospital in Stornoway.
Returning to nursing after a five-year break, Chris Anne was a theatre nurse when the new Western Isles Hospital opened in 1992 and, as she returned to full-time work, was promoted to theatre sister.
Chris Anne became senior nurse and soon afterwards agreed to cover the post of interim hospital manager. She was then made associate chief operating officer, before taking up another interim post as nurse director, being formally appointed to the position in 2016.
‘I’ve enjoyed every job I had,’ she said.
‘I loved theatre and operational management. There have been very few days when I’ve thought ‘I don’t want to go to work today’.
‘The health service is not the health service I came into in 1976 when nurses were trained as apprentices. Now nurses are trained and educated to degree level.
‘The way nurse training is provided has totally changed and in many ways has changed how nurses work, though the actual caring side of nursing remains the same but that has always been a strong essence of health care within NHS Western Isles.’
Chris Anne thank everyone for all the support she has received over the years. William Findlay has taken over as nurse director and chief operating officer at NHS Western Isles.