Meet Carol: celebrating 50 years in the NHS!

Celebrating our colleagues? It’s a piece of cake!

Recently, we caught up with Carol Hipkiss, one of our fabulous Urology Nurse Specialists, who has now worked in the NHS for 50 years.

To mark the occasion, her colleagues came up with a joyful scheme to surprise Carol with a wonderful afternoon tea party which took place in our Joy Garden. The festivities included a delicious cake from a local bakery and speeches from colleagues who emphasised just how much Carol’s support had meant to them during her time with us.

Whilst she may be more suspicious of afternoon tea plans next time, Carol was incredibly grateful for the effort of her team. She said: “I was in total shock! It was a really lovely surprise; I wasn’t expecting at all. I never even suspected anything and didn’t even connect the dots when I saw that some members of the team came in on their day off. It was a really nice day!”

Carol began her training as a nurse in 1971, and qualified in 1973. After a brief sabbatical raising her children, she worked in a number of roles here at Sheffield Children’s before undertaking a conversion course to become a Registered Nurse. Now, Carol cares for our children and young people as a Urology Nurse Specialist. She said: “We support patients who have conditions that affect the bladder and bowel before and after their operations. The team put on clinics, run diagnostic procedures, and even get out in the community in homes and schools for education. It’s a really rewarding, diverse role”

Carol has been in her current role for over 15 years and is constantly able to find new and interesting ways to support our children and families at Sheffield Children’s. She said: “My role is really diverse and is definitely never boring. We often encounter things that we have never seen before. Being able to face and overcome new challenges is definitely a highlight of my role, as we’re able to help patients in new ways.”

After 50 years working in the NHS, Carol is still excited by finding new ways to support our Sheffield Children’s community alongside other members of her team. She said: “I have never had any desire to work anywhere else. I’ve always found new roles that have excited me, and I have been able to progress into different roles that have posed new and different challenges. It also helps that my team are amazing. We often socialise as a group, and see each other after work, so that’s really nice!”

We love to celebrate our colleagues here at Sheffield Children’s and would like to congratulate Carol on a fantastic 50 years.