JOYCE Petrie may have celebrated her 70th birthday last week, but the popular Southport nurse has no intentions of retiring just yet.
In the week where the NHS celebrates its 75th birthday Joyce is still very much enjoying her role working with patients on the stroke unit at Southport Hospital and says she is not aiming to stop any time soon.
Joyce started her career 50 years ago as an auxiliary at Fleetwood Road Hospital in Southport in 1973 before beginning her nurse training at Ormskirk in 1988 and qualifying in 1991.
Since then she has worked in the rehabilitation of patients for the majority of her career and still has the same enthusiasm for the job that she had all those year ago.
Looking back on her career she said: “The NHS is fantastic, and it is a wonderful place to work. It isn’t perfect but the good days far outweigh the bad.
“The patients are always your priority and I love helping people recover but I also love the people I work with, I love mentoring young students and I have made so many friends over the years I have been here too.
“The job and the people keep me going and although I don’t work full-time now, I’m definitely not looking to finish yet.’’