A SURBITON nurse retiring after more than half a decade says she has “mixed emotions” about leaving the NHS and told of the changes she has seen to the service over the years.

Jean Fitzpatrick, 74, has worked in numerous hospitals throughout south-west London, including 31 years at the now-closed Surbiton Hospital, in a staggering 58-year career, having started just 10 years after the NHS was founded.

She walked out of Tolworth Hospital on Friday after her final shift with what she described as “mixed emotions” and has spoken of the challenges future nurses now face.

Mrs Fitzpatrick, of Cottage Grove, said: “It’s changed quite a lot because I was brought up in the disciplined environment. In a big hospital it must be difficult now.”

“I think some of the care has gotten worse, but that’s because I’m old-fashioned. They’ve got much more equipment now but the basic care was better in those days.”

“I’ve always got on with all the patients. I always treated them as a human being. Patients would always thank me.

“I’ve been doing it for 58 years, I think it’s mixed emotions but I’ll be all right.”

Mrs Fitzpatrick started on a pre-nursing course in 1958 at just 16 years old and two years later began working at Epsom Hospital, then known as Epsom District Hospital.

She added: “I didn’t want to do anything else, I enjoyed [the pre-nursing course] so much. I just wanted to help other people, I thought I don’t want to be working in an office. I really enjoyed it.”

“You had older sisters who were very strict. It was more disciplined, you wouldn’t call the sisters by their Christian name.”

Mrs Fitzpatrick moved between the hospital and the Royal Eye Hospital, in Surbiton, also now closed, but found her real home when she moved to Surbiton Hospital in 1980.

She would spend 31 years there until the hospital closed in 2011, to be replaced by a health centre.

About 7,000 people signed a petition against its closure and former Kingston MP Ed Davey campaigned to save the hospital.

Mrs Fitzpatrick described the sadness of seeing a small community hospital such as Surbiton close.

She said: “It was a small hospital, it was a bit more laid-back. That was emotional, it was a homely hospital, there were only two wards and everybody knew each other.

“The Royal Eye Hospital was a very good experience, you were left to do things on your own, but I wanted to go back to being on the wards.”

“I enjoyed most looking after patients on the wards, working as a team. When I started my training we were all on duty together.”

She then moved to Tolworth Hospital for the final years of her career and said she plans to take a well-earned Spanish cruise.