MEMORIES of 30 years of providing care for patients have been relived at a Brentwood hospital.
Spire Hartswood Hospital turned 30 on Wednesday and the occasion was marked with a party and afternoon tea for current and former patients, staff and friends.
The private hospital is located in Eagle Way, Great Warley and since its beginnings in 1983 it has undergone several changes including the construction of two extra operating theatres and a huge growth in its bed capacity.
Spire Hartwood's current hospital director Mark Gilmour told the Gazette: "I have worked here for seven years.
"It has changed over the years – it has got busier and the way we work with the NHS has changed.
"I love working here – having been in the Royal Air Force and Eurostar, this is a really nice place to work. There are people here that make you laugh and smile on a daily basis."
A very important patient also came along to join in the celebrations. Danielle Barnett, from Stapleford Abbots, was the first person to be operated on at the hospital. She is also the lead singer of the techno/house group Urban Cookie Collective, best known for their 1993 UK number two hit The Key, The Secret.
Ms Barnett said of her consultant, Bhavanesh Chopra: "I was looked after by this amazing consultant. I have been here many times over the years and it's always been an amazing hospital with brilliant consultants.
"I would recommend the hospital to anyone and we would never go anywhere else.
"I trust them implicitly and that's the most important thing – you cannot buy that trust."
She added: "I have been the lead singer of the Urban Collective for 15 years and I have been able to travel around the world.
"I was recently gigging in Holland and Norwich and I am also a vocal coach and taught Molly Rainford who was in the final of last year's Britain's Got Talent."
Mr Chopra, who lives in Hornchurch, said: "I have treated Danielle's whole family.
"It feels great to have worked at the hospital for 30 years, especially seeing Danielle today.
"It has been a very good place to practice from and the staff have been very good.
"I have also been a patient here for nearly two weeks with my back problem and had very good treatment and the nurses were very kind so I have been on the providing and the receiving end.
"The hospital has changed tremendously and it's enlarged in all directions.
"We used to only have two theatres and now we have four, there is a bigger bed capacity and the consulting capacity is four times as big. But it has always been a happy place to work."
Nuala Howes was the original matron at the hospital and remembers the early days.
She now lives in Northamptonshire after leaving The Hartswood and working as a nursing agency manager in Billericay.
She said: "I worked at the hospital for 15 years and it has changed enormously since I left. I have some fantastic memories of happy times and everyone knew everyone – it was the baby I never had.
"We had a splendid team and I still keep in touch with a lot of the staff."
Jenny Probert, 57, of Langdon Hills, is a staff nurse at the hospital and has worked there from the start.
She said: "I have always loved it here – it just felt like a second family. We have had really good times and have kept long friendships.
"It was totally different at the start to how it is now and the hospital has got much bigger.
"We do have patients coming time and time again to this place – they say it's more friendly than other hospitals. I hope to stay working here."
Another special guest at the hospital was 68-year-old Martin Cosgrove who was in charge of part of the building of the hospital.
He owns M. G. Cosgrove Construction Ltd and lives in The Avenue.
He said: "31-and-a-half years ago I started work and it took a year-and-a-half to build it.
"I had about nine builders doing drains and groundwork.
"It has been interesting to come back after all that time – I am glad I am still healthy and working.
"I had an operation here a year ago and I told them I worked here building the place."
Terry French, 66, lives in South Woodham Ferrers and is an engineer at the hospital, a post which he has held since before the hospital opened.
He said: "I started on April 18, 1983, one month before the hospital opened its doors.
"It has changed a lot – it was only a 24-bed hospital with two theatres but now it has grown and has a hydro pool and many other extensions.
"There is a lot more work for me to do.
"As maintenance engineer I do a bit of everything and I have enjoyed it – that's why I'm still here.
"We used to do a London to Brighton bike ride with the staff as well as the Stratford-upon-Avon raft race."
He added: "I have made lots of friends and am looking forward to seeing them all this afternoon."
For more information about the hospital, visit www.spirehealthcare.com.
