Farewells are beginning for Linda Edwards, Matron at Cirencester and Fairford Hospitals, who is retiring after nearly 40 years in the NHS.
Colleagues paid a surprise visit yesterday to wish her well after a varied career which has included a spell on a surgical and trauma ward, opthalmology, cardiology and district nursing.
Community Hospitals Deputy Service Director Juliette Richardson said: “When I think of you, it’s as one of those people that we all hold in the highest regard – someone who represents nursing.
“Your standards, your compassion, your leadership and mentorship are amazing and you’ve been an incredible presence across the whole Trust.”
Linda qualified at an Enrolled Nurse from Newcastle upon Tyne School of Nursing in 1984 and spent her early years at Newcastle General Hospital before taking an Opthalmology Course and then a Conversion Course in the Midlands in 1989.
She worked at the original Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Edgebaston and City Hospital in Birmingham before taking her first job in Gloucestershire as a Staff Nurse in Moreton District Hospital in 1996.
Since then she’s also been a District Nurse, Practice Educator, Operational and Development Manager for the Cotswolds and Matron at North Cotswolds Hospital. She took up the role of Matron of Cirencester and Fairford Hospitals in 2017.
Linda will be leaving the Trust on Tuesday 8 March.
