ARLENE Brady has cared for countless patients, dealt with innumerable crises and faced traumas most of us prefer not to imagine but she always managed to keep a smile on her face.

Now Arlene, pictured, has just notched up 40 years of service to Southampton hospitals.

She started as a fresh faced 20-year-old working in the casualty department of the Royal South Hants hospital in 1966. When the emergency department moved to its current location at Southampton General Hospital in 1974, she went with it.

Today Arlene is still treating patients in A&E and says she has no intention of hanging up her stethoscope.

"A lot of people have asked me if I want to retire but I plan to keep going for as long as I can," the mum-of-four said. "I have treated people here, seen them grow up and then treated their children!

"A patient said to me the other day, I remember you treated my broken wrist 20 years ago - when I was just six! It can get a bit embarrassing when that happens."

When Arlene joined the RSH after her training course in Poole the instruments used in A&E were still sterilised and reused.

There have been countless changes in nursing methods but one of the most significant was the move away from that steriliser to disposable instruments.

"It is busier these days," she said. "We didn't have that many road accidents back in the 60s and people were more likely to go to their doctor or treat themselves at home."

Arlene, who also has four grandchildren, said for her nursing is most definitely a vocation. She was sent to the UK from her home country of Jamaica by her parents, who supported her ambition to nurse. Grateful patients have showered her with presents over the years and she is noted among her colleagues, who claim "there is only one Arlene".

As well as bottles of champagne, wine and perfume Arlene was once treated to a trip to Canada after treating a patient who became ill on an Air Canada flight. The airline paid for her to travel to Canada to visit her two brothers. Mark Hackett, chief executive at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Arlene is a credit to her profession."