Theatre sister Kate Hiscock, 54, is one of the longest serving nurses at Princess Margaret Hospital.

She joined the hospital in 1972, after working as a psychiatric nurse at Pewsey Hospital and then as a general nurse at Charing Cross Hospital.

"There must be something good about working at Princess Margaret Hospital, because I have been here for 28 years now," she said.

"I originally wanted to follow a career in medicine, but when I was younger it was not really the sort of thing women did.

"But I have since found that nursing is a career I really do enjoy."

She explained that the fundamentals of the job have not changed since she started.

"I have seen a large number of changes in the way we work.

"You are expected to operate much more sophisticated equipment and patients' expectations are far higher.

"But at the end of the day, nursing is nursing and the basic skills remain unchanged. It is all about looking after people, feeding them, washing them, amusing them. That is what it is all about."

Kate explained that keeping up morale was an important aspect of caring for people.

"What they used to term 'looking after people's spiritual needs' is now called 'looking after the whole person', but it amounts to the same thing," she said.

"If you make sure people are happy inside, it goes a long way towards speeding their recovery."

She added: "Nursing is a very satisfying job, I have found it to be a good and fulfilling career.

"I came into it, and I think a lot of my colleagues are the same, because I wanted to look after people and help them recover.

"In that respect, nursing is more than just a career. I think that most people in the job do it because they want to help people."

n In 1994, Katie was asked to carry out some pioneering research into latex hypersensitivity, after the hospital had to care for a patient with the condition, with a focus on theatre protocols.

Because there were no previous guidelines in dealing with the condition, Katie produced a small book containing advice on treating patients with the potentially fatal rubber allergy.

The book is now sold to other NHS trusts by Swindon and Marlborough NHS trust.