FOR 37 years she has tried to make the pain of intensive care a little more bearable for others.

A friendly face for those coming in, and always a kind word for their relatives.

But now Brenda Sellwood has waved goodbye to the patients of Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital for a final time.

The administrator of the adult intensive care unit was given a rousing send-off when she retired on Thursday.

After starting as a cleaner at the then Nuffield Hospital in 1976 she joined the unit in 1987.

During this time she saw the modernisation of the hospital as the cardiac unit split from the Churchill Hospital and moved to another site.

The 70-year-old, from Pipkin Way, Oxford, said: “I always wanted to work in hospitals and do something like that, where I was helping people.

“It was somewhere we mixed with patients and relatives, putting them at ease, chatting to them. You were involved in people’s lives.

“Each day I could come home and think I did something for someone to make a tough time that little bit easier for them.”

She said: “It’s just so nice when patients come back to thank the staff, and they do that.

“When they come back after their operation and you see them on the mend, that is such a special feeling, and that is what you go to work for.

“I’ll never forget any of those times. That’s when you feel you have really made a difference.

“That patient contact is so important and I was glad I still got to speak to them and comfort them. I will miss the people I work with so much. They have been wonderful.”

Matron for critical care theatres and anaesthetics Matt Holdaway said: “Brenda has been the face and the backbone of intensive care for so long.

“Her motivation in wanting to help people is obvious to anyone who knows her, and everyone will miss her hugely.

“People think intensive care is all about doctors and nurses but people like Brenda are the ones who help it stick together.

“She’s the first face they see, and is often the first to put them at ease. We wish her all the best.”

Mrs Sellwood and husband George are to take a holiday and then visit one of their sons, who is a doctor in Vancouver, Canada.