Ian Norris, Lead Stroke Nurse, retired at the end of April after a remarkable 44 years working at our Trust. He started as a volunteer when he was just 14 and has worked in a variety of roles including switchboard, HR, and as a nurse, eventually leading our Stroke team. With such a varied NHS career, Ian’s colleagues think he should write a book. We think it would be a great read – if he can find the time to write it, as he’ll be returning to nursing this month to help during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond! 

Ian first joined our Trust as a volunteer in 1976, the day after his 14^th birthday. He was our first volunteer to do a night shift, which wasn’t without controversy at the time, as he explained: “The staff I was working with thought it was a great idea. But the next day it did cause some panic among managers when they found out a 14-year-old had done a night shift - I guess I have always been a bit of a rebel!”

It turned out to be good practice too, as when he qualified in 1982; Ian spent most of his time working nights, rotating around different wards and areas of the hospitals. 

Ian also met his partner Richard when they were both working at Oldchurch Hospital in 1983. Richard has now retired, but also spent a long career with us, eventually becoming a matron and then Respiratory Nurse Specialist.  

Ian played a pivotal role in setting up our clinical skills team in 2000: “At first it was just me and one other person. There wasn’t an Education Centre in our hospitals like there is now. We just had to find any space we could on the wards. We taught procedures such as intravenous cannulisation and reading ECGs – things which were new to nursing at the time. By the time I left the team we had set up 45 training courses from scratch.”

Taking some time away from nursing, Ian joined our HR department, leading projects including the implementation of Agenda for Change and moving staff onto ESR, the then new HR system. He has also supported members of the Royal College of Nursing for almost four decades, starting as a representative for the union in 1981. 

Returning to nursing to join our Stroke team after years working in HR was a challenge, which Ian has likened to how nurses from areas such as outpatients and theatres have recently moved onto our wards to care for patients with Covid-19. He said: “It can be scary at first. The technology and some of the equipment might be new. However, you soon realise that patients haven’t changed – they’re still the same as when you were last on the wards.

“I had kept up my clinical skills through my voluntary work with St John Ambulance, volunteering for events such as the London Marathon and Notting Hill Carnival – however, it is quite different on the side of a road to caring for someone on a ward!”

Ian is hoping that a new working pattern after retirement will give him more time to spend at his other home in Madeira, where Richard now lives full-time. He was due to spend some time there in March, but his flight was cancelled the day before he was due to leave due to Covid-19.

So, for now, Ian will be staying in the UK with the couple’s cats ‘Thrombo’ and ‘Lysis’ – named after a life-saving procedure for stroke patients (the vet did work out that both Richard and Ian were medical workers straight away!) 

Ian will re-join our Trust this month as we continue to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, he added: “The challenge is nothing like I’ve dealt with before. It’s different to how we responded to previous outbreaks, such as flu, because we would be aware of it months before and would have had more time to prepare. We’ve never needed as many ventilators as we do now.

“I’ve marvelled at the way our hospitals have effectively split in two to care for patients with and without Covid-19. People have taken on new roles and have found new ways of nursing.

“The pandemic has made me want to come back and help after retirement even more because you don’t want to let the side down. However, when flights begin again and I can see Richard in Madeira, I will be on the first one out!”