During this month we are celebrating our 10 year anniversary at The Montefiore Hospital! So much as happened since we opened our doors in 2012, so many memories! And who better to tell us how it all started and share their memories than the colleagues who were here right from the start? Today's memory belongs to Alison Clarke, Clinical Governance and Risk Manager.

"When I was asked to be part of the hospital set-up team, under the leadership of Lynette Awdry as Matron (the title then) and Andy Wood as Hospital Director, I really wasn’t sure - it was a GIANT leap of faith, with only a building site for a hospital, no job description and only Lynette’s assurances that it would be an adventure …!!

On the basis that it was probably only a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I decided to roll with it! It’s been the most demanding role of my long and varied career (one which I would never choose to repeat!), but also the most rewarding. I have so many memories and it’s difficult to choose between them, but here are three that I think represent the journey of the early years:

1. To get approval from the CQC to open the hospital, we had to describe in detail our intentions for meeting every single one of 150 standards for safety and quality. Needless to say it was a mammoth piece of work (my first task), and mostly born out of many hours of discussion around Lynette’s kitchen table!
2. We were inspected by the CQC in January 2017, and waited until September of that year to get our final report. I recall being summoned down to the Hospital Director’s office about “a serious matter” and was sure that I was going to get a roasting about something! Instead, I was greeted by the most incredible news that we had achieved an outstanding rating from the CQC.
3. We have always worked and played hard at The Monte! From the very first Christmas party, held just a month after we opened our doors to our first patients, we established a reputation for holding superb parties! The party that we had to celebrate our CQC outcome was one of my favourites; the glitter bar was a triumph and there was much dancing on tables!

I am very proud to still be a part of The Monte family and to see where we travel on this marvellous adventure in future years."