After more than 50 years working at the ‘cutting edge’ of healthcare Chris Graygoose has hung up his scrubs for the last time after calling time on his NHS career in theatres.
Working in a hospital was not on the cards for Chris when he left school as he had set his sights on working as an electrician on the dockyards in Plymouth. However, he was too young and needed a job as a stopgap before starting. So, he went to his local hospital every day for a week pestering them to give him a temporary role.
They eventually relented, and he joined his local hospital as a post boy delivering the mail. He said: “I couldn’t believe my luck! I loved seeing the nurses with their starched uniforms, frilly cuffs, and hats. They seemed so professional. I threw myself into my job and would find myself helping people who were lost trying to find their way to clinics.”
Before Chris knew it, he was promoted and was put in charge of the postal service – despite the fact his sights were still set on the dockyards. “Then one day I got chatting to one of the porters and the next thing I had changed roles to that of a general porter.
“I loved it as I met loads of people, had lots of banter and I felt as though I was helping people. I soon applied to be a theatre’s porter. If I am honest, I just wanted to sneak a look through the windows into the operating theatres to see what was going on.”
However, one day he was caught by the theatre sister, and she asked him one simple question, “do you want to be a porter for the rest of your life?” It turned out to be a pivotal milestone in Chris’ life as she gave him some scrubs and opened the door on what was to be a major turning point in his life.
Chris said: “It was such a unique environment. I was hooked from that first day as I loved the camaraderie, and everyone working together to treat the patient. They all had a purpose and relied on each other. I quickly learnt that a scrub nurse at the table is only as good as the runner – everyone is a unique part of a jigsaw.”
When a job came up as a theatre technician, as it was known back then, Chris went for it and spent the next two years training in Plymouth, where he stayed for a further three years before moving to Cornwall to further his career. There he was responsible for the Operating Department Practitioner (ODP) team. He also dabbled in education working for City and Guilds and as an assessor looking at how hospitals carried out their theatre training.
After taking some time out due to ill health, he took a job just outside of London. He left the south of England after spotting an advert for a theatre manager at Goole and District Hospital. He said: “I drove up the day before, had a good walk round the area and the hospital and spoke to lots of people. I knew it was somewhere where I wanted to put down roots and I have been here ever since.”
Talking about his time at both Goole and Scunthorpe theatres, where he has been the manager since 2006, he said: “I have been privileged to have spent my 50-year career working in the NHS providing care for patients. There is something very humbling about someone putting their trust and faith in you and your theatre team when they are being opened up on an operating table.
“I love the variety as no two days are the same. We of course have the routine operations, our bread and butter of what we do, such as joint replacements, cataract procedures but it is the emergencies which you cannot plan for which get the adrenalin pumping.
“It is the thrill of helping to bring new life into the world with an emergency caesarean section, to working alongside our surgeons as they work on someone who has received life threatening or life changing injuries in an accident.
“I have been incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful team around me who have supported me every step of the way and understand that we are all just a cog in a wheel and we must all pull together to make it work.”
Chris has seen massive changes in surgical techniques and equipment during his career, but the thing that has kept his passion alive is the patients. “Seeing someone come in scared, with pain etched on their face or so badly injured it is touch and go, and being part of the team to mend them or put them back together is something you cannot really put into words.
“The staff in theatres are often the unsung heroes; they carry out their work without the rest of the world really seeing what they do. I feel proud and honoured to have worked with some great people from the talented surgeons to the dedicated theatre staff and the fantastic porters.”
As for what the proudest and yet perhaps hardest time for Chris and the team – the COVID-19 pandemic. “The camaraderie was amazing. It pulled everyone together, it galvanized us in a way which I have never experienced before, it was truly humbling. Chris added: “I cannot explain how much it has meant to me to be a theatre manager, it has been my life for the past 20 years and I will miss my team. However, it is time for me to hand the reigns to someone new and for me to slow down and enjoy this next chapter.”