Hi! My name is Ahmed Touita. I am a member of the portering team, based in the Rosie Hospital. I started working for CUH on 29 August 1974, so almost 50 years ago!
I have been based with the team in the Rosie for the last 9 years. The day starts with checking on the daily tasks which need to be done, moving beds between wards and theatres, removing surplus items from the wards, checking on all the Oxygen cylinders, removing those which have been used and replacing with new. I also will undertake checks on the medical gas manifold, to endure that the Entonox is ready for use, and again, change cylinders if necessary.
A large part of my job will be collecting samples from the clinical areas in the Rosie and taking them to the laboratory for testing. A lot of care needs to be taken as there may be samples from new-born babies and of course, their mothers. We use the ‘famous’ Rosie Hospital bicycle to help get back and forth along to long corridor on level 1, to ensure they are delivered in a timely way.
I really love that my job is so varied, and that I am able to build great relationships with the ward staff and patients. I feel humble that I can do a little to support the workings of this huge organisation.
I moved to Cambridge, as a young man, from Morocco. I was looking for something different and a place to establish myself. My children were born in Cambridge, and we are very happy here.
My first role, working for the Trust, was as a kitchen assistant based at Douglas House. We cooked fresh food for all of the patients. Each day, we would bake a cake for the wards, so that patients had fresh cake with their morning coffee. Sometimes it would be a fruit cake, sometimes a victoria sponge – one large cake to share for each ward.
At Christmas, each ward had a turkey cooked for them, with all the trimmings. We were proud of the food offered, but there was a lot of food waste, and that was always a concern.
I went on to start to work in the Portering team at the Old Addenbrooke’s site, moving to the current site on the biomedical campus when the old site closed. I initially worked as part of the main portering team in the main hospital, working shifts, both day and night, before moving to the Rosie Team. One thing I have found is that the modern beds in the hospital are much easier to manoeuvre than when I first started!
When I started working at CUH, there were only 3 porters for the whole site and a team leader. Now there are over 100 porters in portering services.
There were also no uniforms, no radios, and it was very different to how it is today.
Sometimes I am asked if I am ready to retire; the answer is maybe, one day, but I need to find a hobby first!