News

A Treatment Room on Geddington Ward has been named in memory of much loved and well respected KGH nurse.

The official opening of the Caren Ashcroft Treatment Room was held on November 4, 2019, in the presence of Caren’s daughter Georgie, her six-month-old grandson Harry Walpole, and Caren’s close KGH friends.

Staff Nurse Caren Ashcroft, from Mawsley, sadly died in a road accident on Sunday, June 7, 2015.

She had been a nurse at KGH for 30 years and was very well known and respected. She had worked in various areas across the Trust, most recently in orthopaedics and surgery in Geddington Ward where she served from its opening in 2007-2015.

Her colleagues wanted to do something in her memory and decided on naming the ward’s treatment room – where patients have things like pre-operative assessment checks - in her memory.

Ward Manager Anna Patrick said: “Caren’s friends and colleagues unofficially called the Treatment Room Caren’s room as a way of remembering her every day but we realised that we had never had an official opening.

“Reflecting on this – and thinking about the Trust’s CARE values of being Compassionate, Accountable, Respectful and Engaging -  we thought that having an official opening would be a good reminder to us all of the importance of individual contribution’s like Caren’s.

“We have been delighted in the way that the Trust has embraced the idea and helped us to remember Caren in a fitting way.”

Caren’s daughter Georgie Ashcroft and her six-month-old son Harry cut the ribbon to officially open the Treatment Room.

Georgie said: “I am really grateful to the team for doing this. My mum loved working on the ward and having this room named after her, in a way, means that she is still here and her work has been remembered and celebrated.”

KGH’s Director of Nursing, Leanne Hackshall, said: “Caren was a nurse at Kettering General Hospital for some 30 years and was a much loved and well respected member of staff.

“She has been greatly missed by her family, friends, colleagues and patients and we agreed with staff that we should officially mark her contribution by naming this room within Geddington Ward.”

At the official opening some of Caren’s close friends paid tribute to her.

Healthcare assistants Coleen Tucker and Debbie Dioni both worked closely with Caren and were good friends of hers.

Coleen said: “Caren was a wonderful person outside and in and her death was a real tragedy.

“She was good friends with so many of us both at work and outside of work – and we used to go with her to watch her daughter Georgie, who is an operatic singer, at her many concerts.”

Debbie said: “If you add an N to care you have Caren – she was always so caring.

“She was like a sister to us all and was always there when you needed her.

“It was such a blow to us when she died and we wanted to do something to remember her. “

Lead Nurse for Practice Development, Rie Sharpe, who was Caren’s Matron at the time of her death, said: “We were all so devastated when she passed away. She really was a kind and lovely person who was friends with everyone.

“Having the room named after brings us all some comfort. Caren did use the room and delivered some of her care there.

“We have put up the plaque and named the room so that she will never be forgotten.”