Bristol NHS worker and 'amazing role model' dies with coronavirus after helping patients for 35 years

Sandra worked for the NHS for 35 years. Credit: North Bristol NHS Trust

Tributes are being paid to an "amazing role model" who worked for the NHS in Bristol for more than three decades, after she died with coronavirus.

Sandra Hicks, who worked for North Bristol NHS Trust as an apprenticeship teacher, died on Saturday 23 May after testing positive for Covid-19.

She worked for the NHS for 35 years.

Her family said in a statement that her positivity and encouragement for them "was like a button holding them all together."

Sandra started her career at Frenchay Hospital, where she worked for 15 years. Credit: PA images

Sandra trained as a nurse at Frenchay School of Nursing and worked at Frenchay Hospital for 15 years after qualifying in 1985.

As well as working in a local care home, Sandra later joined North Bristol NHS Trust as an apprenticeship teacher.

Andrea Young, Chief Executive at North Bristol NHS Trust, described her as an "extremely valued member of our hospital family" who will be "greatly missed."

She continued: "She had dedicated her life to caring for people and worked for the Trust for over 20 years and the wider NHS for 35 years.

"She was a hardworking, committed individual that took true pride in the development of others. She was always on hand to provide support and guidance to the team and took great satisfaction in seeing others develop to reach their full potential."

Tributes have also poured in from many of Sandra's close colleagues.

Becky Holmes said she was a "friend, mentor, sounding board, shoulder and a good old push in the right direction" when it was needed.

Other colleagues have said Sandra was an "amazing role model" who was "always putting her patients first."

A spokesperson from North Bristol NHS Trust has requested her family are given privacy at this difficult time.