Well done and thanks to Jeanette, our oldest member of staff!

Huge congratulations to Jeanette Allan, who (we think) is our oldest member of staff, having worked for the NHS and New Queen Street Surgery for 41 years.

Jeanette, who is 79 this year, was a mobile secretary for local health visitors, and she worked at many local practices. She retired in 2015, but a chance conversation with the then Practice Manager at New Queen Street and Stanground led her down another career path for nearly the last decade.

Jeanette was asked to help sort and summarise thousands of paper based records and transferring them onto our digital patient record system.

She said: 'I asked the Practice Manager how long will this job be for as I thought it was going to be temporary. She took me into the office and opened all these doors with hundreds of notes that hadn't been touched and asked how long I wanted to stay - so it was definitely a mammoth job!

'It is pruning and getting rid of all the superfluous bits, checking that the notes are on the system so the doctor can just look at one list and know what that patient's illnesses are rather than having to fumble through lots of notes. I don't think the system will ever be paperless but they are slimmed down when I have finished with them and I do a huge amount of shredding.'

After putting the paperwork to rights at both sights Jeanette still has time for her family and hobbies. She spends her spare time line-dancing, sewing and gardening and she and her husband Bill recently welcomed a new Yorkie puppy, Amber to the family.

She plans to continue working for a while yet and said: 'There is only so much gardening, washing up and cleaning that you want to do. I have always worked and I needed something to get out of bed for. I like to put things in order, I like the girls I work with. All in all I still enjoy the job and making everything tidy!'

Thank you for your dedication and attention to detail Jeanette, it is much appreciated.