Celebrating 75 years of the NHS
Date added: 05 July 2023
As we come together and join the nation to mark 75 years of the NHS, it is a time to honour our past, but more importantly, a time to think about our future.
At KMPT our simple mission is to deliver brilliant care through brilliant people, and we would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the hard work and commitment of our brilliant people; past and present.
We are proud to have a workforce of over 3,700 people from 66 nationalities. This includes people from a range of professions including nursing, occupational therapy and psychiatry. We are also very fortunate to have over 170 volunteers working with us who help us make a difference every day to people’s lives.
We caught up with some of KMPT’s longest-serving colleagues to find out about their career highlights and how it feels to be part of a team which helps people with mental health issues get better. Oh, and of course we reveal their fondest, and funniest, memories!...
Kathy Lawrence, Medical Devices Coordinator
Acceptance, patience and communication are a must for anybody working in mental health services says Medical Devices Coordinator Kathy Lawrence, who celebrated 40 years’ service with the NHS last year.
Now based at St Martin’s Hospital in Canterbury, Kathy works with the Physical Health Team, enabling service users to maintain a healthy quality of life but devoted most of her career to being a Community Psychiatric Nurse.
“I loved being out and about and getting to know our service users in their home environments – it is an honour to care for somebody who is unwell, at every stage of their mental health journey. Seeing the whole picture enables us to provide personalised care at times of crisis, admission and recovery.
“Nursing truly is a vocation. To be the best mental health nurse you can, you must take the time to listen and learn from everybody you meet – and never judge.”
Affectionately known as ‘Taz’ when she was working in a clinical role, Kathy was renowned for her fast-paced but highly effective approach to work, always making sure home visits and follow-up actions were timely and ‘top-notch’.
Unfortunately, due to a car accident some time ago, Kathy was unable to continue in a clinical community role but is grateful to the trust for their support in adapting her duties.
Born Katarzyna Podlaszewska, Kathy grew up in Nottingham and enjoyed holidaying on the Kent coast with her family. So much so, she relocated to Chartham to pursue her mental health nursing career and be close to her favourite seaside towns Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs.
Kathy advises students training in mental health to explore as many different positions as possible as they are ‘so varied, so valued and so rewarding.”
Tina Nichols, Senior Clinical Lead at the East Kent Rapid Transfer Dementia Service
Tina celebrates 35 years with the trust this year.
“I’ve always thought that if staff are happy in their work place, then our service users will be too, which can only help with their wellbeing and in many cases of mental health illnesses, their recovery too,” said Tina, who began her career with KMPT in 1988.
Tina has nursed people with dementia since starting her career as a healthcare assistant on a long stay ward in her home town of Broadstairs, after gaining her nursing certificate.
At just 18 years old, Tina quickly learned to take all experiences, be they challenging, emotional or unusual, as learnings on how to improve her caring skills for people who are in crisis or very unwell.
Tina added: “It sounds like a cliché but treating people how you would like your mum, dad or grandparents to be treated is key to providing the care they need and deserve.
“I remember lots of people and families with fondness but one that stays in my mind is a traveller family who were very private and protective about their dear mother’s deteriorating condition. As we always do, we worked as team to understand and respect their culture and allay any concerns they had. Over time we gained their trust and made sure the whole family felt confident and comfortable with the care we were providing. To show their gratitude, the kind-hearted family turned up on the ward with an eight foot tall real Christmas tree, to the festive delight of us all!”
Family values mean a lot to Tina and she credits her colleagues’ unwavering support, experience and guidance to her longevity as part of her ‘KMPT family’.
Now managing her own team within the trust’s specialist dementia service, which offers mental health and dementia care assessment for people with a diagnosis of dementia with complex needs, Tina finds her role particularly rewarding: “Supporting someone with challenging behaviour to make sure their needs are met, be it in the community or one of our in-patient settings, is something I never tire of.”
Christine Thompson, Laurel House operational team manager
Meet Laurel House operational team manager Christine Thompson, who has worked at KMPT, then called East Kent NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, since 1988.
Being able to ‘talk to and trust the team you work with’ is Christine’s secret to her happy and successful 35-year career with the trust.
Now based in Canterbury and helping service users with moderate to severe mental health needs in the community, Christine joined KMPT as a student nurse at St Augustine’s Hospital in Chartham.
Whether it be working with our service users in the community or in an in-patient setting, Christine advises anyone working in the trust to make sure they value teamwork and demonstrate respect to earn respect.
Christine said: “From caring for people who are extremely unwell in hospital, to supporting them on their road to recovery is more than a job, it is a privilege – being part of a strong and dedicated team allows me to do just that.
“Helping people become independent after struggling with their mental health is at the core of everything we do and I can’t imagine a more meaningful and rewarding career.”
Christine is pleased she chose to join the trust over one in her home town in West Sussex – at the time it was because she was able to start training a year earlier. Treasured memories and professional pride are at the top of her list when she looks back over her long and fulfilling nursing vocation with KMPT. One of her most amusing stories features escorting a patient back to hospital in Italy!
As Christine prepares to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the NHS, she reflects on some career highlights, including working alongside drug companies trialling antipsychotic medication Olanzapine (which helps manage symptoms of mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) and being part of national transformative training programmes with lead psychiatrists of their generation.
Sarah Acheson, Business Administration Co-ordinator in KMPT’s forensic outreach and liaison service team
Business Administration Co-ordinator Sarah Acheson says ‘feeling like my colleagues have become my family’ is just one of the reasons for her fulfilling a 40-year career with the NHS.
As part of KMPT’s forensic outreach and liaison service team, Sarah helps provide a safe, effective and timely pathway to people who need continued specialist intervention to address risk, psychological and social care needs.
Sarah said: “Working as an administrator, I am often the first point of contact for our service users. How my colleagues and I respond to that initial call can make a world of difference to them. It is vital we are both knowledgeable and compassionate when talking to people who are reaching out to ask for help.”
Sarah started working for the NHS at psychiatric hospital Leybourne Grange in West Malling, now a luxury housing estate, at the tender age of 17 in 1982.
Now based in nearby Trevor Gibbens Unit in Maidstone, mum Sarah has nothing but praise for the trust’s family friendly flexible working policy. It has allowed her to pursue a fulfilling and progressive role as an administrator supporting clinicians and making a difference to service users’ lives, while raising her children.
Sarah fondly remembers joining KMPT in 1986 at, as it was then, All Saints’ Hospital in Chatham, which was housed in some of the original workhouse buildings, with ward names such as Charles Oliver and Havisham. All Saints' closed in 1999 and Sarah moved to Medway Maritime Hospital.
One of Sarah’s most amusing recollections of her early days with the NHS was before paperless working practices. One particular consultant, who she worked as a secretary to, had so much paperwork on his desk she couldn’t see him! It was only when the ‘paper mountain’ fell to the floor he agreed that Sarah should sort and correctly file his documentation, to her great relief.
Sarah’s organisational skills have been richly rewarded ever since and she quickly progressed to a management role. Finding duplication frustrating, Sarah thrives on finding better ways of working and has won a service group award for her innovative work on streamlining projects and reviewing budgets.
“I have learned that small changes can make a big difference,” Sarah added. “Being trusted to work with my managers to resolve issues and lead junior members of my team makes me feel valued and that my experience is essential.”
