Northampton cancer nurse marks over 50 years in the role
Lead Cancer Nurse Liz Summers first began working at Northampton General Hospital at 16.
University Hospital of Northamptonshire’s longest serving colleague is Liz Summers, Lead Cancer Nurse at Northampton General Hospital, who has celebrated 51 years of continuous service.
She began her NHS journey in 1974 at the age of 16 as a pre-nursing student at Northampton General Hospital with a family legacy of nursing.
"The hospital was run by a matron, Miss Coombe, who lived on site with her cat.
"And she ran the hospital. Everybody was terrified of her. But she ruled this hospital like an, you know, with an iron fist. And in them days, all the Ward sisters, none of them were married. It was considered a vocation. And they were so scary. But you learnt your trade from them."
She has devoted her entire career to Northampon General Hospital except for a brief stint at the Royal Marsden for specialist cancer training.
Liz has witnessed firsthand the transformation of hospital care over the decades and says she recognises the importance of holding patients at the heart of what we do and giving them agency in the care that they receive.
She said: “One of the greatest changes that we have seen is that we advocate for patients and we listen to them.
“There’s nothing like the feeling of making a difference. Whether it’s easing someone’s pain or just being there to listen, it’s what gets you out of bed in the morning.”
She recalls helping a patient being treated who missed their horse:
"After hours we got a horse on the ward so she could have a cuddle with a horse. And we even were able to scoop up what the horse dropped, put on our roses. But whatever we did, we tried to do what was right for patients."
Over the years Liz has been instrumental in helping to develop Northampton General Hospital as a cancer centre with a specialist oncology ward, teams of specialist nurses and allied health professionals, along with the development of end of life and palliative care teams.
In July 2023 she became the first member of Northampton General Hospital staff ever to win the Chief Nursing Officer for England Gold Award for her outstanding services to cancer care and was presented with it by the Chief Nurse herself, Dame Ruth May.
And she has also worked for the last 12 years to help support the development of a Maggie's Cancer Centre due to open soon on the Northampton General Hospital site.
A total of 214 staff eligible for long service awards (colleagues with more than 25 years of service) have together served at Kettering or Northampton general hospitals for a combined total of 6,315years.