In crisis?

Nurse reflects on 51 years in mental health care

Read about Jackie’s NHS mental health career, her time at Runwell Hospital, and how psychiatric care has changed throughout the years.

An identification badge card for the

A mental health nurse has retired after 51 years of dedicated service.

Jackie Traynor was just 16 when she joined the NHS and has worked her entire career in mental health care services based in and around Wickford, for Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) and its predecessors.

She became a cadet nurse at the former Runwell Hospital in Wickford on 8 September 1975.

She said: “Because I was only 16 I had to have a parent with me at my job interview so my dad came with me.”

She was among four girls from the same school to start working at the hospital on the same day.

Jackie said: “We weren’t allowed on the wards at 16. We had to work in all the departments at Runwell and when we were 18 became support workers, or nursing assistants as they were called then.”

Jackie started her nurse training at 19 and initially planned to move into general nursing. However she loved working in mental health care and never left the field.

She worked as a qualified nurse at Runwell for 33 years and was relocated to a rehabilitation unit in Laindon during the gradual closure of the hospital. In 2012 she started working at Brockfield House, which provides long term specialist inpatient care.

Jackie then decided to become a full-time support worker to spend more time working directly with patients.

She has seen many changes over her long career. Her pay during her early years as a cadet nurse was £60 a month. The nurses would wear dresses and hats, which would be freshly washed and starched by the housekeeping team for them to wear the following day.

She said: “Everything had to be immaculate. When you started your shift, you had to line up and the ward manager would check your uniform and that your name badge was on straight.

“If a manager came onto the ward you would stand up. I was scared of the ward managers and sisters because they seemed so stern, like a headmistress, but they were very caring.”

When Jackie joined the nursing profession, she was the only one in her family to work in the NHS. However, working in healthcare now runs in her own family, as her husband and three of their children have worked for EPUT and its predecessors.

Jackie said: “According to my mum, she bought me a nurse’s outfit for my fourth birthday. When people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, she said I never wavered from saying I wanted to be a nurse.

“That’s all I said I was going to do.

“I wouldn’t have stayed as long as I have if I didn’t enjoy my job. You have to have the passion for it.

“It’s been very stressful at times, but there’s been happy times, especially when you see people get well and return home. But I would never change it. If I had my life again, I would do it all over again.

“There’s patients that stick in my mind more than others but they were all special to me.

“Work has never been work for me, it’s always been a passion. I have always been happy to get up in the morning and go to work.”

Liz Wiseman, service manager for Brockfield House, said: “Jackie will be greatly missed by patients and colleagues and we are very thankful for her years of dedication and long service.

“After 51 years we all agree she has earned a rest!”

About EPUT:

  • EPUT provides services to more than 100,000 patients at any one time and our staff are focused on providing high quality care in often complex situations.
  • The organisation has invested in inpatient facilities and community services to make them safer and more therapeutic. We have extensively invested in technology to keep patients safer, enhanced training, and are continuously working with our staff, patients, their families and carers to use learning and best practice to enhance our quality of care.
  • While there is more to do, the Trust has made significant progress through innovation:
    • Our 111 mental health crisis phone line ensures people in need can access support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
    • People with lived experience have been employed in designated roles across the Trust, ensuring patient voice is heart of the organisation and all that we do.
    • A number of new initiatives have been launched, helping people access the support they need when they need it most. These include a mental health urgent care department, By Your Side maternal mental health service, Rough Sleeper team, mental health crisis ambulance cars, virtual wards and neuromodulation service.
  • EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 and provides community health, mental health and learning disability services across Essex, Luton and Bedfordshire and Suffolk.  We employ more than 7,200 staff working across more than 200 sites.