Around 90 NHS Forth Valley staff, with a total of 2,590 years service between them, received a Long Service Award after achieving 20, 30 or 40 years service. They attended a special award ceremony at Forth Valley Royal Hospital to celebrate their long careers working for the NHS. The event was hosted by NHS Forth Valley Vice Chairman, Julia Swan and Chief Executive Cathie Cowan and each member of staff received a specially designed certificate and pin badge.

A series of short videos were made to give examples of staff with 40, 30 and 20 years service which are available on the multimedia section of the NHS Forth Valley website www.nhsforthvalley.com

The 40 year award videos feature Morag McLaren, NHS Forth Valley’s Head of Organisational Development and Anne Moylan, Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. Morag began her nursing career at Bellsdyke Hospital in Larbert and at 21 was the youngest ever charge nurse. She later switched to organisational development, and has been closely involved with a wide range of staff initiatives including Investors in People. Anne Moylan has spent most of her career as a midwife and neonatal nurse.  She also teaches neonatal nursing at Napier University and has been educating midwives at the Da Nang Women and Children’s Hospital in Vietnam.

The 30 year award video focuses on Angela McGregor, Administration Manager in the Women and Children’s Unit. Angela originally joined NHS Forth Valley in Health Records on a three month contract but decided to stay and has worked for NHS Forth Valley ever since!

The 20 year award video features Fiona Struthers, Dietetic Co-ordinator at Forth Valley Royal Hospital. Fiona is a frequent visitor to the wards, helping patients to recover through individual feeding plans.

Julia Swan, Vice-Chair of NHS Forth Valley, said: “It was a pleasure to present these awards to staff and gave me the opportunity to say a personal thank you for their long and dedicated service to the NHS. The staff who attended this year’s award ceremony came from many different backgrounds and it was fascinating to listen to their personal stories and hear about some of the changes they had witnessed during their long NHS careers.”

A total of 92 staff received long service awards – 11 for 40 years service, 53 for 30 years service and 28 for 20 years service.