Teresa Jackson: "Today's nurses would be horrified at the tasks we had to perform when I was a trainee"

The mayor, himself a nurse, presents Teresa with a civic crown as a token of gratitude from the borough

"YOU'VE done a fantastic job!"

Thus spoke North East Lincolnshire’s mayor, Cllr Ian Lindley, as he praised the achievements of Teresa Jackson, a nurse who is celebrating 60 years'of service with the NHS  . . and with no signs of stopping yet.

Speaking about her 60 years’ service, Teresa said: "It’s been my pleasure. 

"I’ve loved it. How many people can say they love their job.

"I am lucky. My brain still works, and physically I can still do the job.

"Over the years, I have worked with some amazing people. They are saving lives constantly and they don’t get the recognition they deserve.

"It’s a team. That’s the bottom line, it’s team work."

Teresa’s first day at the old General Hospital in Grimsby was on 1 September 1963..

"Everything smelled of furniture polish. It was all wooden. That smell evokes such memories," recalls Teresa.

"We were allowed five things on the dressing table. Anymore and the ward sister would swipe them off."

Teresa had wanted to be a nurse from the age of nine. 

"Growing up in  South Kelsey, we rarely saw an ambulance," she continues. 

"When we did, all the kids would run out and say, ‘hold my collar, pinch my nose, I hope I never go in one of those’.

Working life was very regimented and hierarchical when Teresa started as a cadet nurse, with separate tables in the mess room for cadets, Year One students, Year Two students, sisters and more senior staff.

"If a first-year student was passing through a door and a second-year student approached, you had to stand aside and hold the door," remembers Teresa.

"Cadets were a large part of the nursing service back then. 

"When I was a cadet, we were taught to carry out so many duties - such as suturing and stomach wash outs - that would horrify the nurses of today.

At 23, Teresa was the youngest sister appointed at the time to a General Surgical Ward. 

She continues: "In 1974 I changed roles and worked in the Special Care Baby Unit for nine years on night duty. 

"Missing adult nursing I returned to Scartho Road hospital, remaining on night duty as this worked well with family life. 

"I later became night sister and went on to become the night site manager.

"As there were no junior doctors as we know them now, I trained to be a clinical nurse practitioner, working under the guiding hand of Mr. Henry Pearson.

"He didn’t know what to call me. He couldn’t call me by my first name as that was unprofessional, so it was TJ, a name which sticks with many even now. 

"When he was retiring, he convinced me to try stoma care for two weeks, I did, and I’m still there."

Like Teresa, the Mayor only ever wanted to work in a hospital. He started as a trainee on a Youth Training Scheme aged 16 in Sunderland. 

"When my YTS ended, I went into hospital voluntarily," he says. "I didn’t want to do anything else other than work in a hospital."

Despite his civic responsibilities, Cllr Lindley still finds time to work 20 hours a week at the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital.