An “irreplaceable” Bradford nurse who has devoted 50 years of her life to the NHS retired yesterday.

Dorothy Morgan started as a 16-year-old at Bradford Royal Infirmary in 1963, and has spent her entire career working with thousands of patients across the the district.

Beginning her career as a sterile technician at BRI, she then worked for 16 years as an auxiliary nurse before spending more than 20 years in physiotherapy.

In recent years she has been based at the Westwood Park Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, off Cooper Lane, as part of the community therapy team.

“There have been so many changes in my time, it has been unbelievable,” she said. “When I first started, everything was run by matrons and it was very hard and physical work. Now there is a lot more equipment to make things easier.”

In her last role as a therapy assistant, Mrs Morgan, 66, visited patients’ homes to co-ordinate exercise programmes, and also ran balance and walking groups at the centre.

“Apparently I’m well-known within our patients, and people ask for me to come out and see them, which is nice to hear,” she said.

“I love working with the elderly, and seeing patients get back on their feet again and be able to cope in their own homes is wonderful. The work is so rewarding, and I have built up a huge rapport with so many of the people I’ve worked with down the years.”

Rhonda Shorter, physiotherapy team manager at Westwood Park, said she had never met anyone with the same enthusiasm or love for her job as Mrs Morgan.

“She’s brilliant, and so hard-working” she said. “Dorothy is so passionate about giving people their independence back, and her dedication is amazing.

“Dorothy goes that extra mile, and we won’t realise how much until she’s gone. She’s irreplaceable.”

Mrs Morgan admitted that while retirement would be a real shock to the system, she was looking forward to spending more time at home in Odsal with husband Brian, who she met in the same year she started her long career.

“I’ll miss the work terribly as the health service has been my life. I’ve really enjoyed it, and I know I’ve worked with some great people who have really made a difference.”