NHS 75: Almost 150 years service between them and they 'hope to keep working' as long as they can

• Report by ITV Wales reporter, Ian Lang.

Three NHS staff at a north Wales hospital have clocked in almost 150-years service between them, double the 75-years the NHS has been in existence.

Veteran theatre scrub nurse Ann Pugh was 17 years old when she became a pre-trainee nurse at Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth in 1969. She has worked at Ysbyty Gwynedd since 1983.

Describing herself as an "all-rounder" she has seen massive changes within the NHS especially in operating theatres. She said: "It is better. There have been improvements in the way we work.

"We have a lot of disposal instruments, we don't use any linen for drapes, only disposable. The instruments are disposable we also have them sterilised."

She works two days a week and has a lot of respect for her colleagues saying it's all about "team work". From the "excellent consultants, surgeons, anaesthetists, to the ODP, manager, cleaners, everybody, we are one big team".

Ann enjoys working with younger staff and teaching them, saying it keeps her young. She loves to see them "learn and grow" and still recommends it as a career.

She said: "On Wednesday I met a young woman starting out in the profession, she was so enthusiastic and I thought, 'yes they are still there!'

"It's a career you can go anywhere in the world. We had a girl who has left our hospital to get more training, she wants to go to Australia."

Ann's happiest times have been working on the labour ward and she said: "I have been there when babies are born and now I work alongside some of them who have had their own babies.

"That's wonderful. I think that is the highlight really - you never get tired of seeing a baby being born."

The build up to the 75th anniversary of the NHS has been a time of reflection for nurse Lyn Roberts. She has spent her working life in Welsh hospitals and is part of the Emergency Care team at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor.

She said: "It's been a privilege, you might get me a bit upset now. You know you meet people along the way.

"I am a local girl, I can go to the supermarket and when my kids were little they always used to hate coming shopping with mum because it would take about an hour to get around.

"People would stop me and say 'thanks'. It wasn't always positive, sometimes I would have a few whinges along the way about how long people had to wait.

"I still meet people that I remember from the sad times, you know we have had some really difficult times here and they still say 'hello' to me and they still give me a smile. That's what does it for me."

Lyn said her first day on the job back in 1985 was "lovely". She wore a bright yellow uniform which led to the nurses being called 'the canaries' and they had to wear American tan tights.

It was very different back then, she added: "Our nurse training was all about getting your nurse registration. It was a modular based training.

"We would spend time on the surgical, medical wards and all the education around it would be the two weeks before and two weeks after, it was called consolidation.

"That was quite a new thing at the beginning of the 80's, it carried on for about ten years and then nursing got a bit more academic."

Lyn wanted to be a nurse from an early age, she remembers having a book called 'The Nurse' when she was 12. She has no regrets about joining the profession and said: "What I've loved most is the people I have worked with and the patients I have looked after have been absolutely wonderful. Every day is different."

She remains positive about the future of the NHS adding: "What we are going through now is recovering after Covid, renewing what we do. We learnt a lot through Covid.

"I am very optimistic and I am very proud. I want to stay with it for a few years."

The longest serving member of the Ysbyty Gwynedd family is Bernard Jones who has clocked 52 years in total and said he is still "going strong".

An operating department practitioner, he wouldn't like to put a final figure on the number of miles he has walked with his trolleys over the years but thinks it's "probably thousands".

Bernard was originally at the old C&A Hospital, then went on the ambulances as a technician before heading to Gwynedd in 1984 to become an ODP.

He loves working with patients and being able to reassure them when they come through the door. Bernard said: "Some come in with a fear of the unknown and a bit of reassurance goes a very long way.

"There's nothing more upsetting than seeing a child crying his heart out coming down the corridor, you won't be able to do anything with them.

He added: "Sometimes we do have one or two that we have to send back to the ward and give them a little pre-medication first, before bringing them up."

Bernard arrives early for work each morning to make sure he has everything he needs for the day. He said: "I take my job seriously. I want everything to be spot on. This is my theatre today and this is how I keep it for whoever comes in here, they know everything is ready to go."

Bernard takes great pride in what he does and says he knows when he leaves at night he has "done his best".