Keith Johnson

Staff stories: Keith Johnson

One of Oxleas’ longest standing employees, Keith Johnston, recently racked up half a century of service in the local NHS.

Starting his career at 16 as a student nurse at the old Bexley Hospital in 1961, Keith witnessed first hand how medicines revolutionised mental health care in the 1960s, the passing of Nightingale Wards and services moved into the community. 

Keith has also seen his fair share of parliamentary driven change in the NHS, joking that if he: “stays much longer he’ll see the NHS go full circle.”

Keith rose steadily through the nursing ranks becoming Assistant Director for Nursing for the Lewisham wards in 1983, before retiring from nursing practice in 1997. Soon after, Keith took an administrative role in the temporary staffing (bank) office here at Oxleas and was fundamental in building it into the service we have today.

In May last year, at 65, Keith retired, only to return the very next day for a year’s maternity cover in the same team. Keith is now in his third role since retiring last year, supporting the trust’s Head of Partnership Working, Wendy Lyon, and has no plans to finish any time soon, saying: “Who knows, I could be here for another 20 years.”