A DEDICATED nurse who has worked with seriously ill patients throughout the district for 44 years has announced her retirement.

Margaret Dunmore, 75, started off as a healthcare assistant at Black Notley Hospital back in 1972.

She then took up a role as a district nurse, working throughout the Braintree area with some of the most sick and vulnerable in society.

Margaret said: “I used to care for a mixture of terminally ill patients and those with serious illnesses. It was a mixture of ages, both elderly people and children.

“The staff shortage was still as bad then as it is now and we had to work alone a lot of the time.”

In 2014 Margaret was transferred to the Halstead area, where she worked until recently.

On Friday, June 16, friends and colleagues held a retirement party at Bocking United Services Club, in Church Street.

Margaret said: “They all kept mum about it and it was such a surprise. I thought I was going out with two or three of the nurses.

“I had people come who I met when I started nursing and those who work with me now.”

Margaret, who has three children, two step-children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, lost her husband Peter five years ago to cancer.

She spent the final years of his life nursing him at home, whilst continuing doing the job that she loves so much.

Margaret said: “I have got to get used to not nursing. When you have done something for so long it is like a second nature.

“If I see someone collapsed in the street of course I will still help them.

“I think the thing I will miss the most is the patients. The rapport you build with them and their families is just lovely.

“Nursing is about giving everything that you are able to give. Some people find it difficult but if you have got that way about you everybody knows it.”

Karen Estlea, a healthcare support worker who has worked with Margaret for 25 years, said: “She is such a compassionate, caring lady and has had quite a hard life herself - everyone loves Margaret.

“She really loved her work and would always say that time to listen and chat was as good as healing than medicine.

“Margaret has always been there for me as a friend, confidante and been like a mum to me. I love this lady.”