Mary Shields

Mary recalls that she had always wanted to be a nurse from the age of eight. You can imagine her delight when she left home in 1977 to begin her nursing career in “the big city” of Edinburgh. At that time there were 17 hospitals in the city and Mary worked in many of them, in different roles.

She went from initially starting off as an auxiliary nurse and commenced her State Enrolled nursing course in the same year. She recalls the comradery and friendships made whilst living in the nurse’s homes. These strong friendships helped her through some challenging times, and they all made it through to the end of their training in 1979.

Mary then worked in various hospitals and wards in Edinburgh and Livingston over the following twenty years. She then decided to study for the conversion course at Napier University to become a State Registered Nurse, qualifying in 2000.

She then went on to work at St John’s Hospital in Livingston in GI medicine, preceptorship and as an infusion device facilitator, until 2008 when she joined the Clinical Education Team. She worked in many roles as a Clinical Skills Facilitator, Clinical Educator (within medicine, nursing and care homes) and a Practice Education Facilitator. She has worked latterly as a care home educator and plans to retire on the 30th of June 2025.

Throughout her long career she always states that she felt privileged to care and look after people when they were at their most vulnerable.

She attributes her resilience in her role to the “fantastic” friendships that she has made over the years and the support from her colleagues. Also, the fact that she has a wonderful sense of humour which she states is essential in nursing. She feels that she will always think of herself as a nurse and feels proud to have been given the opportunity to have looked after so many lovely people. She feels grateful to all the people who she has worked with and in her own words, “you have made me the best person I could be”.

Congratulations on your retirement Mary and I am sure everyone would like to thank you for your contribution to the nursing profession, your commitment and hard work inspires others to be the best that they can be too, and it has been wonderful to work with you.