Ealing Hospital’s longest-serving employee has retired after 47 years, bringing to a close a career that stretched back to the hospital’s opening in 1979.
Jenny Ashe joined as a part-time receptionist on the weekend the hospital opened and went on to spend almost five decades working in its emergency department at Ealing Hospital, which is now part of London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH).
When she started, there were no computers. One of her first jobs was copying patient admissions from A&E into a large ledger so reception staff could tell visitors where relatives were being treated.
Over the next 47 years she saw the emergency department transform, from handwritten records and paper-based admissions to computer systems and modern front-of-house triage. She also recalled stepping in when patients needed urgent help, including carrying a baby to the resuscitation unit and raising the alarm after finding a young man semi-conscious in a car outside the department.
Reflecting on her career, Jenny said: “There were no computers in those days. It was all pen and paper.”
She added: “Ealing has always been such a friendly place to work. I have so many happy memories here and it is nice to know you work somewhere that makes a difference.”
