So proud and glad of my lifetime’s work as a nurse

I’ve dedicated my life to the NHS, working as a nurse for 43 years.

Walking through the corridors of Swansea’s Morriston Hospital after visiting a patient it struck me that I was born at this hospital and only survived because of the NHS.

My mum and dad were both born in 1912. My mother had lost four boys due to pre-eclampsia before the NHS was created.

Mum was 42 when I was born in 1954. There were complications again and the only reason we both survived was the NHS.

Years later while working in a butcher’s shop near a hospital the local nurses told me I should apply.

I did, and I’ve worked in the community, with people with learning difficulties and now as a research nurse guiding clinical trials. I have to say I’ve been very lucky to have had the opportunity – I have enjoyed every minute of it.

The NHS has given me my life, a secure job, a pension, a house, three children, a rewarding career, friends from all over the world and a chance to give quality care to patients when they are at their most vulnerable. To be able to treat patients how I would want to be treated myself.

I love the NHS and feel so proud to be able to give something back.

Helen Golding, 64, Swansea