A Century of Service with the NHS

Two Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital staff are retiring after nearly 100 years of work between them in the NHS.

Jane Lebbell has spent 54 years in Radiology even though she started off wanting to do physiotherapy. At 16 she would have had to wait another two years to start training for physiotherapy so she opted instead for radiology at City College because on a school visit she was fascinated by an X ray of her teachers handbag.
She then became one of the first eight students to begin training at the hospital’s newly launched radiology school and qualified in 1965.

Jane has worked in radiology ever since and says ”I love it. It’s changed a lot from the days of plain films and wet developing, there were no CT or MRI scans then. The amount of information we can now get is very good and there is still a place for plain film X rays.”
Jane explained “In the early days we used to do quite a bit of theatre work and I would go into the operating theatre then go out and develop the film in a dark room and send the X ray back.”
The radiologist said she was very sad to leave as she would miss her colleagues and being part of the team. “I think the NHS is brilliant”, she added.
Now she says she is going to “smell the roses” and enjoy her passion for flower arranging. In the past she has exhibited at Chelsea and the Norfolk and Suffolk shows as well as arranged flowers for weddings.
She will also help her retired husband Roger run their guest house on the Broads.

Pathology porter David Wagg is retiring after a sickness free 44 years with the NHS.
David began his career in the NHS at Thorpe St Andrew Hospital until it closed and he joined the NNUH as a porter. He is a familiar face in the labs as he collects specimens and takes them to be delivered to the Cotman Centre.
David says he has not had a single day off sick in his 44 years and feels he has been lucky.
He has enjoyed his job and now plans to do some decorating and gardening.
Dianne Gibson, EPA Norwich manager in Pathology said “In many ways David is the ideal employee, he gets on very well with all of his colleagues, is willing to do anything that’s asked of him within his capabilities and works very hard for the Trust. He has never had a single days sickness absence in all of his 44 years of working for the Trust and has always considered it lucky that he got sick when he was on holiday rather than when he was due to be at work.
We will all miss him very much when he retires but wish him the best for the future.”