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This year marks 40 years since Hinchingbrooke Hospital first opened its’ doors in 1983, after the Huntingdon County Hospital and Primrose Lane Maternity Hospital transferred across to the new site. Here, Facilities Helpdesk Administrator, Beverley Balls, shares her memories. 

Bev started working at the Huntingdon County Hospital in 1980 as a cleaner before moving across to the Hinchingbrooke Hospital site while it was still being built and cleaning up after the building work was completed.

She said: “I feel incredibly proud to work for the NHS. I always say I am NHS blue blooded all the way through and I feel very fortunate to work at Hinchingbrooke. It is a lovely place to work. Everyone is so friendly and because we have a small hospital, it has a nice community feel to it.

“I worked in the kitchen as a cleaner to start with, but within a week I was asked to take on the role as the supervisor for the evening shifts.

“Since then, I have had a huge amount of support to progress in my career, including paid for courses and help from my managers and team which made me feel so valued. In 1991 I was given the opportunity to do a management course for catering and became a manager for the Catering Team and was given the Blackmore Thistle Cup for high achievement in my course.

“In 2014 I became the Patient Services Manager for the Portering and Switchboard teams and I had planned to retire in 2020, but as the pandemic hit, I knew that I couldn’t leave my team at what was our most difficult and challenging time, so I stayed.

“I am now working as the Facilities Helpdesk Administrator, so I receive all the calls for maintenance support across our Hinchingbrooke site. I have definitely noticed an increase in the need to repair our aging hospital, so the news that we are going to get a new hospital can’t come soon enough.”