Ealing's longest serving colleague bows out
Ealing Hospital's longest serving colleague, Jenny Ashe, has said goodbye after an extraordinary 47-year career.
The first person to have greeted you at Ealing Hospital when it first opened in 1979 would have been Jenny who started work as a part-time receptionist on the weekend before the hospital admitted its first patient.
“My first task was to go to A&E and copy the admissions into a big book. I'd take that back to reception and use it to direct visitors asking about people being treated in the hospital.
“There were no computers in those days. It was all pen and paper.
“I enjoyed working at the hospital so much that when I got a full-time job with an electronics firm, I still did my weekend shifts at Ealing.
“I later moved to A&E as a front desk receptionist and then worked as a medical secretary.”
Front-of-house triage nurses didn't exist back in the day, and Jenny would take patients' details and direct them to wait in the blue line for minor ailments or the red line for chest and head pains.
She used her initiative to jump the queue on more than one occasion including carrying a baby to resus and rushing outside to check on a young man slumped semi-unconscious in a car before calling for medical help.
“I did consider retraining as a nurse for a while but with three young children felt I had left it too late.
“However, one of my colleagues in reception did take the plunge and join the profession which was brilliant.”
Ealing has always been such a friendly place to work. I have so many happy memories here and it is nice to know I worked somewhere that makes a difference.”
Thank you for your decades of service Jenny, we wish you a very happy retirement.