He’s played a key role in saving lives on Britain’s ferries, put Steri-Strips on actor Tom Hardy’s eye and saved the life of a man who collapsed in a busy railway station.
All in a day’s work for Gary Hewitt, a charge nurse at Hull’s Emergency Department who retired last week after 50 years in the National Health Service.
Today, Gary, 68, reflects on a phenomenal career stretching half a century on the frontline of emergency medicine in his trademark, understated way.
“It’s been something different every day,” he says. “None of us working here are prone to panic and you just deal with whatever comes in the door.
“You never come away from a shift without learning something.”
It was the year of the heatwave, James Callaghan became Prime Minister following Harold Wilson’s resignation and the Sex Pistols swore on live TV when Gary, then 18, joined the NHS in 1976.
After qualifying as a nurse in Learning Difficulties, he joined Hull’s Accident and Emergency Department, as it known back in 1982.
His love of frontline medicine was enhanced when he was part of the team working with legendary Hull A&E consultant Dr John Gosnold and his “Gos-mobile” when they used to respond to emergencies like cardiac arrests outside the hospital.
Outside of the NHS, Gary used his expertise to support ferry companies in Hull, Felixstowe and Liverpool introduce resuscitation measures to help passengers whose lives were in danger.
He was also asked to be the medic on a film set during the filming of Bronson, starring Tom Hardy as the notorious prisoner, and tended to the actor when he suffered a cut from a blow from a truncheon during filming. He didn’t go back the second day – there wasn’t enough to keep him busy.
And there is no respite sometimes, even on holiday. Once, during a trip to Scotland with wife Kay, Gary helped three police officers save a man having a cardiac arrest in Glasgow Central Station.
“I remember one time, being in a café in Beverley, when this man pointed at me and shouted ‘That’s the guy who sewed my finger back on.’”
Gary worked through the ranks of the NHS, becoming a junior charge nurse than charge nurse while gaining a degree and then a master’s in nursing and developed a specialist interest in training, setting up a training programme for A&E staff and becoming the first Clinical Nurse Educator before the role became a fixture in hospitals throughout the country.
He received a 3M Nursing Times National Award for services to training and committed to his own learning, training as a Nurse Practitioner.
He helped develop the Minor Injuries Unit at Beverley but returned to the Emergency Department at Hull as retirement approached, finishing his NHS career back on the frontline.
As well as a career full of highlights and achievements, the NHS runs through his family. As well as his wife who worked at Hull Royal Infirmary before retiring, their two daughters Claire and Katie and son Alan are all NHS clinicians.
Gary’s last day was marked by a visit from Interim Chief Executive Lyn Simpson, who presented him was a glass award to mark his 50-year achievement while his friends and colleagues showered him with gifts.
Lyn said: “You have done the NHS and our organisation proud and you’re such a fantastic role model, with experience that is second to none.
“We want to say a huge thank you to you for all you’ve done and to congratulate you on this fantastic achievement.”
