A Pembrokeshire nurse is hanging up her uniform for the final time this week as she retires after nearly 50 years in the profession.
Karen Manning, currently a practice nurse with the Argyle Medical Group in Pembroke Dock, followed in a family tradition when she left Pembrokeshire for London to train as a nurse in the late 1970s.
Her late father was the highly-respected local GP, Dr Eric Manning; while her mother was a nurse and her sister a midwife.
Karen, 66, trained at Guys Hospital from February 1977 to February 1980, working in London for 20 years across the NHS in hospital wards and as a surgery nurse.
Karen is pictured (front row, second right) in her early nursing days. (Image: Supplied)
She subsequently moved home to Pembroke, working all over Pembrokeshire, – from Withybush Hospital, to the South Pembs hospital care unit – as well as out in the community caring for people in their homes.
She then took up her practice nurse position in the surgeries at Pembroke Dock’s Argyle Street and St Oswald’s, Pembroke, seeing patients in person throughout Covid and up until her retirement.
Karen was on the NHS frontline during Covid. (Image: Supplied)
Karen officially retires this Friday, December 20, and is looking forward to enjoying a busy social life and visiting her daughter Molly in London.
Colleagues have sent good wishes to Karen in her well-earned retirement, thanking her for “the dedication and differences you have made – not just for the patient and families you have looked after but the colleagues you have supported along the way.
They added: “Enjoy this new beginning, filling your days with your favourite things to do.”
And fellow workmates said: “Karen’s been great to work with – her kindness, warmth and compassion to patients was immense. Also, her vast nursing skills will be sorely missed by many.”