A nurse who has worked for the borough’s mental health services for over 30 years has retired.

Joan Cox joined Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust (BEH) in 1985 as a district nurse, visiting house-bound patients to provide advice and helping them to live independently.

She said her time working with BEH has been “wonderful”.

She said: “I have had the pleasure of working with so many dedicated nursing staff in Enfield over the years, many of whom have become close friends of mine."

Ms Cox began her nurse training at the London Hospital, Whitechapel, in 1979 and qualified in 1982, moving to Enfield a year later.

She worked for two years at Highlands Hospital on the orthopaedic ward and in 1985 she started working in district nursing.

Ms Cox said there have been many changes during her time working for the NHS.

She said: "One of other areas of change I have seen is in technology, including the walkie talkies that we used out of hours, before mobile phones were around.

“They were the size of a brick, with everyone around you being able to hear the whole conversation.”

Nihinlola Akinyemi, area manager for the district nursing service, said Ms Cox would always be on hand to offer help and advice, even when off-duty.

She said: “I can say from my heart that when I joined the service as a manager seven years ago, I had never met a nurse so dedicated and so committed.

“She has shown immense commitment to her work throughout her time here and even in the past few weeks, whilst she’s been preparing to retire, Joan has supported the team as we put together plans to further improve our service to help us provide excellent patient care.”

Ms Cox’s love of nursing has been passed onto her daughter Laura, who this summer will start working for BEH, at the adolescent mental health unit in Edgware.