How would you describe your great uncle and his achievements?

His achievements are amazing, the NHS in itself I think is an amazing achievement. It gets a lot of knock backs but there’s a lot of OKs there too. It’s interesting I think, a secession of Tory governments have tried to dismantle it, but I think because it’s so loved it will be a huge challenge to see it go.

Although I think there’s a bit of work to be done around the way it’s going. I think there’s a challenge about targets and MRSA and I just think it needs a good look at really and possibly more injection of finances because of the challenges we’ve got in our health system.

What were your first memories of your great uncle?

I never knew him because he died when I was very young but I can remember my dad and my grandfather, who was his brother speaking to him on the telephone, but they tell me he was very, very focused, very driven by his convictions. You wouldn’t move him from where he wanted to be and he did overcome his stammer in terms of being in the public eye but it didn’t bother him. I can remember my grandfather saying it didn’t bother him but it got worse when he was stressed or excited, which is why on the television you see a lot of it because when he was speaking it was more emphasised.

The seeds of it (the NHS) I understand were grown when he saw children ill with TB and he said “we have to do something about this”. When he was in the mines early on in his career but more so when he was a politician he visited some of his colleagues in Tredegar and in and around Ebbw Vale and some of the children were ill and of course they couldn’t do anything because they didn’t have any money to get treatment. So I think in that respect the NHS was gratefully received, I don’t think if he was here now he could envisage where its got to in terms of technology and demand but certainly that hospital where it started in Tredegar is still standing.

I think there were isolation hospitals and that sort of thing set up so I think his view of it was to make people well. I don’t think he could bear to see children suffering and that’s the start of it but as I say over the years it’s grown and grown so I wouldn’t have imagined he envisaged growth of specialist, neurological operations, cancer treatments etc as part of the NHS.

What was it like to grow up with a famous person in the family?

Well, it was interesting because I remember lots because my grandfather, who was Aneurin’s brother, was a local politician and chair of Monmouthshire county council for a number of years, which was a big authority then because it took in Monmouthshire, Abergavenny, Blaenau Gwent, Newport and Cwmbran. Nye wasn’t part of our household but politics was. There were always big debates downstairs when I was a little one, always raised voices so that bit was part of my childhood.

My family were always big debaters and for a little one it was quite frightening, but as we grew up we knew it was part of the home and my father, when we were teens coming up to voting, used to lecture us about what it means to vote and what that card means and we were encouraged to vote. So not so much about Nye individually but certainly about the political backdrop.

How did he influence your career (if at all)?

I was named after him so that carried with me and the spelling was unusual so a kind of, well I’m quite proud of that even though some of the names I was called at school was interesting because of spelling. I always had to explain which always allowed me to tell his story a little bit and that was nice. As I say, my grandfather was also very political. I never saw them together which was a shame, my grandfather died, he was 84 so he lost his younger brother, it was around his early 60s when he died so that was sad.

My mother was a nurse and I guess it was in the family genes as well as Nye so I went into nursing. I guess it was funny because in my school, my generation, they either went teaching or nursing. It was kind of the ‘in’ thing, some went to University but mostly they went teaching or nursing so I suppose maybe, unconsciously I followed in my mother’s footsteps and watched her. She was a community nurse when I was growing up.

You weren’t tempted to go into politics?

No it was funny because we were a very political household it kind of went the other way. It was only because I did my social work qualification that I started to unpick politics and the different ideologies behind different parties and I kind of went sideways I guess. No I didn’t and I never have because people say “why didn’t you go into politics or local government politics?” but I’ve never been drawn although I deal with politicians in my daily work now.

How did your interest in ageing begin?

I did my nurse training, I qualified and then I thought this really is not for me I didn’t like the, well, it was circumstances I suppose. I returned home because I was away in nursing and then I got a job in a hostel for young people with learning disabilities, adults really, and I thought “this is a nice role”. I qualified in 1979; it was still very much Matron was in charge and very formal and the medical model didn’t sit easily with me. It took individual choice and control and I thought “I’m not really sure I want to go back into doing that” so I went and worked for a while with people with learning disabilities.

Then I did my qualification in social work and then I ran, I suppose I loved older people in hospital. When I was nursing them, I don’t know, they’re a forgotten part of our population in terms of what they can offer and experiences so when I qualified I moved to Somerset and ran a number of residential homes for older people which, I always say, if I wind down gently, I’ll run one because it was a very positive part of my life, to make a difference to older people in institutional care was a challenge. I really enjoyed it, to give people the opportunity to be self-fulfilling in an institution in the early 80s.

What are your key areas of work?

My key areas of work are managing resources, managing people, developing services, strategic planning, policy implementation all those big head of services making a difference.

Can you briefly outline your career?

I was 15 years in Somerset and I worked with most groups. I did older people to start with, then I moved to children with disabilities then I did young people, troubled people with, in what we used to call the observation and assessment centres. In those environments it’s quite challenging and then I went into operational teams, which were social work teams, occupational therapy teams, assessment and care management developing services. Then I moved into Powys in 2004.

What do you feel is the biggest challenge in your post?

Modernising services to give more choice to individuals to remain living at home for as long as possible and even if they want to, dying at home, that’s a key one. Certainly in Powys we have to modernise what we have, a more developed Welsh Assembly Government could join up politics and make a bigger difference – invest more time in community services. So if they could join up policies and join up resources that would be great.

What do you like best about your job?

Making a difference. I like engaging with users and carers, making things happen so people have more choices and can stay where they want to stay.

Least?

Probably scrabbling around for resources because, if you have to modernise resources you have to stop doing what you’re doing and that’s difficult. If you can do things from new and then stop doing the old that’s better but it seems very onerous, you can’t do things quickly enough.

What do you want to achieve in your future career?

Well I do want to do my PhD at one point, I’m not clear on what, I think probably carers. Otherwise I want to do work for around five years and or do voluntary work, I’m quite interested in doing respite for older people, family based, so carers can have a break.

What is your favourite book, film, music?

My favourite book is ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’ by Thomas Hardy, bit of a romantic. High society. I love that! All that good music,

Music?

I couldn’t hit on something, I’m quite eclectic really. I like a range, I like soul, a bit of classical, there’s not one I could pick out.

Who would you like to be stranded with on a desert island?

Nelson Mandela

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Follow your dreams?

How have you celebrated 60 years of the NHS?

My dad’s been ill so it’s not been the best time for us. We’ve been nursing him for the last two months but we did because we wanted to, it was a kind of dream. We got him down to the Sennedd for the celebrations there and we had some lovely photos taken of him and he spoke to Rhodri Morgan and everyone there and we’ve also got him up to some local celebrations up in Tredegar and he cut a ribbon and things. I haven’t done much except support him to get where he needs to be and my mum and he had a wonderful time.

end of profile section