IF EVER the 70 glorious years of the NHS could be summed up in a life, perhaps Jenny House's is it.

For Jenny, who lives in east Dorset, the birth of the NHS in 1948 coincided with the first of several operations she had as a child growing up in the Welsh Valleys, and her NHS career has spanned more than 50 years..

Born with a dislocated hip, Jenny’s father spent a week’s wages on a consultation with an Orthopaedic Consultant who shouted at her mother for leaving it so late to bring her to see him, declaring “you will now have a crippled child for the rest of her life”.

But Jenny was to prove him wrong and went on not only to walk and climb peaks, but to have a long career in nursing– and she is still working today.

Looking back on her life, Jenny’s father was worried about the cost of the operations for his 18-month-old daughter. However at this time the NHS was founded and free treatment for all came into being.

“I remember vividly my time at The Prince of Wales Hospital in Cardiff, the wards, the staircases, early morning milk floats leaving the diary and other noises and smells," she says. "It was a traumatic time for both my parents and me but I believe this experience spurred me on to become a nurse when I grew up.”

After training as a nurse with the RAF in the UK and Germany it was perhaps inevitable, after the treatment she'd received, that Jenny would specialise in orthopaedics.

“I love everything about orthopaedic nursing and built up sound working relationships over the years with many orthopaedic consultants with who I am still in contact with today,” she says.

Jenny moved back to Wales on leaving the RAF and then moved to Highcliffe where she married her husband. She worked at Christchurch Hospital for a number of years before being instrumental in moving the orthopaedic services from the Christchurch site to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital in 1991.

She retired in 2014 but continued working part time. In 2016 Jenny commenced in her current role as the Adult Safeguarding Lead . Now at the age of 71, Jenny has no plans to retire just yet.

“I am passionate about my work and I am very lucky that I still have a role to play," she says. "I just hope I’m here in a couple of years’ time.”

Having been one of the first users of the NHS and spending her career working in it, Jenny believes it now has a more open culture and is a friendlier place to work.

“The management structure has changed so much - senior staff were not approachable and a nurse would not dare to speak to the matron unless spoken to first," she says.

“Many of the staff will stop me in the corridor to have a chat or ask advice. All our staff are important to us, from the porters, housekeepers and catering staff up to the Chief Executive. We all work as team”

Jenny says the range of services now offered by the NHS compared to when she started is “amazing”.

“I don’t think anybody comes to work to do a bad job," she says. "We all want what is best for our patients and staff but we all must remember that there is not a bottomless pit of money and changes are inevitable to allow the service to continue as a free service to all.”

She fondly remembers the days when working on the wards, doctors would regularly prescribe tots of whiskey or sherry to help patients sleep.

And with her Welsh Valley roots, she believes NHS founder, Nye Bevan, had the foresight to create a service which is the envy of the world.

“If it hadn’t been for the NHS, perhaps I would not be where I am today,” she says.