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A London nurse once described as the “fastest woman in Africa” is retiring after almost five decades in the NHS.<\/p>\n
Former international sprinter Rose Amankwaah, 72, represented Ghana at the 1972 Olympics and started working in the NHS in 1975.<\/p>\n
She was initially given weekends off so she could continue her athletics training, where she ran alongside a young Linford Christie.<\/p>\n
Mrs Amankwaah spent her whole medical career at Central Middlesex Hospital.<\/p>\n
Mrs Amankwaah, then Rose Asiedua, won a bronze medal at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
She added another medal to her haul in 2023 when she was given the NHS Silver Medal Award by England’s chief nurse, Dame Ruth May.<\/p>\n
She moved to England in 1974 aged 22, and shortly afterwards started training to be a nurse.<\/p>\n
After finishing her training she was employed by the hospital as a staff nurse and finishes her career as theatre matron.<\/p>\n
During her time at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, the mother-of-four and grandmother-of-10 has met both royalty and senior politicians.<\/p>\n
She said: “I’m happy that I’m going to have some time with my family but I have been in this hospital all my life, so retirement feels like losing something – you’re part of the furniture and all of a sudden you are not going to be.<\/p>\n
“But I’m so happy that I have achieved what I want to achieve.”<\/p>\n
Mrs Amankwaah said that during her work in theatres she had seen major advances in surgery – with most procedures being “open” when she started, followed by a shift to laparoscopic, or keyhole, surgery and now widespread use of robotic surgery.<\/p>\n
Her first trip in retirement will be to Ghana to visit her 87-year-old sister, with a number of other holidays in the pipeline.<\/p>\n
Retirement also means she will be able to watch the Paris Olympics in the summer.<\/p>\n
On her sprinting career she said: “I started running in 1958 when I was in secondary school in Ghana.<\/p>\n
“I started representing Ghana with a high jump but then a coach came to me and said they would like to train me in 100m and 200m races.”<\/p>\n
A London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust spokesperson said: “The NHS is all about people and we’ll all miss Rose when she goes. She is a great nurse and personality and, after 49 years, still knows how to set the pace and run the race.”<\/p>\n
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