Shropshire nursing boss: Celebrating colleagues who've notched up hundreds of years of vital service

It was really good this week to celebrate a number of colleagues who between them have notched up 865 years of service in the NHS.

We recognised those who had worked in the NHS for 25 and 40 years and they came from a number of fields, including nurses, housekeepers, receptionists and a tracheostomy practitioner.

Louise Barnett, the trust’s chief executive, and Sara Biffen, acting chief operating officer, presented the 28 recipients with long service certificates in the same week that the NHS marks its 76th birthday.

It is a wonderful achievement and a sign that working for the trust can be a fulfilling career for life.

I was delighted last week to attend the opening of the new multi-faith room at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

We believe that it is important there are safe spaces where people of all faiths, beliefs and world views feel welcomed and included at our hospitals and sites, and that is why we have created multi-faith rooms.

The Chapel at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) has been transformed into a shared multi-faith space.

Artist Charlotte Tisdale who is local to Shrewsbury created artwork for the RSH multi-faith room and attended the opening. She has artwork across the town, including some telephone boxes.

Three designs now adorn the walls including a greenhouse scene which incorporates growth and living together; trees and flowers, which depict abundance and beauty of individual plants and flowers when coming together and a picnic scene to reflect sharing, gathering, feasting and a sense of community.

The final image incorporates scenes from Shrewsbury bringing a local dimension. There is the Castle, Welsh Bridge, the Dingle and Quarry, the River Severn with the Sabrina boat where we hold pregnancy and baby loss remembrance gatherings and Darwin’s Quantum Leap.

There is also a multi-faith room at Hollinswood House in Telford, where the Community Diagnostic Centre and renal dialysis services are based, and the next step is to continue the transformation at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.

I would also like to thank you for your support and understanding during the recent junior doctor strike action, which ended yesterday.

Our hospitals remain busy, so we are encouraging people to help in any way possible and if you do not have a life-threatening emergency please think of the other options available to you.

You can also visit NHS 111 online or call 111 if you need urgent medical help or consider visiting your local Minor Injury Unit in Bridgnorth, Ludlow, Oswestry and Whitchurch.

There is also your local pharmacy or GP. For further information about Think Which Service, which aims to help you to know where to go to get the right advice, support and treatment for your health needs as quickly as possible, visit thinkwhichservice.co.uk.