Supermarket chat leads to half a century of NHS service and royal approval for Anita

PICTURED: Anita Steel has served the health board for 52 years.

Fifty two years ago, a conversation in a supermarket paved a path for Anita Steel’s life and led to meeting the future king.

While working for Tesco as a 17-year-old mum, a suggestion to “give working in the NHS a go” ended up more successful than Anita had envisaged.

For that suggestion led to over a half century of serving – and still counting – what is now Swansea Bay University Health Board, along with rubbing shoulders with Prince Charles, as he was then, and experiencing first hand the development of technology within healthcare.

Anita’s incredible loyalty to the health board was given extra significance after she recently celebrated her 70^th birthday.

PICTURED: Anita and Louise Evans, Speciality Manager, Morriston Hospital Theatres at a birthday celebration held in the department.

Anita is a scrub practitioner, where she assists surgeons in theatre by preparing surgical instruments, handing over tools and maintaining strict sterile conditions to ensure patient safety.

Completing her three-year training in 1977 led to royal approval, where she was handed her qualification by the future King of Britain.

Anita said: “I was just 18 when I started my training, and when I completed that I was handed my certificate by Prince Charles. It was quite surreal meeting him.

“As it was a Jubilee year, he presented it at a special ceremony in the Brangwyn Hall.

“He has asked me where I worked and what I did, and I told him I was part of recovery in theatre – it’s where we wake patients up.

“He replied ‘oh and how do you do that? With a kiss?’ which was quite funny.”

Anita has found immense satisfaction and pride within her role which she continues to serve to this day – embracing the rise of computers and digital systems, the birth of the internet, breakthroughs in medicine, from early surgical techniques to minimally invasive procedures and robotics and being part of the incredible resilience of healthcare staff through the covid pandemic.

Following the birth of her second daughter in 1979, she returned on night shifts for the next 41 years before switching to day shifts during Covid due to her health suffering from COPD.

Throughout all the changes during her incredible stint in healthcare, one thing has remained constant.

PICTURED: (From left) Taniya Sebastian, Eileen Parsons, Louise John, Anita Steel, Louise Evans, Kelly Crowe and Nathan Cottey.

Anita, who now works 20 hours a week, added: “The reason I have continued to work here is my dedication to patients and working alongside colleagues who I consider life-long friends.

“Working in a hospital environment is a pressurised setting, but we all work well together and keep our morale up as best as we can.

“For me, the best thing about my job is caring for people. That means a lot to me. I’m regularly told that I am a very unique character who always puts others first including my family and colleagues. That’s down to my mother, who was my biggest role model – she brought me and my family up to be caring and appreciative of family, love and life.

“Fifty two years is obviously a very long time to work in the same place – I guess it’s pretty rare these days – but from the day I started I did see myself working a long time here.

“I’m thankful that I still provide care to others and I have a family with an excellent work ethic – my two grand-daughters work within the health board while one of my daughters is manager of a nursing home. So providing care is at the heart of the family.”

Jonathan Gates, Head of Nursing Surgery, said: “Through every decade of change, challenge and progress Anita has been a constant.

“For over 50 years, she has shown unwavering commitment, professionalism and compassion - supporting patients, colleagues and the wider theatre team with quiet dedication and expertise.

“To turn 70 still at work, doing what she has done for over half a century, is nothing short of remarkable. It speaks volumes about her character, work ethic and passion for care.

“Anita’s contribution cannot be measured simply in years - it is measured in the countless patients she’s helped, the colleagues she’s supported and the standards she’s upheld every single day.

“Anita is not just a colleague, she is part of the fabric of Morriston Theatres.”