Ambitious hospital cleaner leaves to pursue pharmacy dream

A much loved hospital cleaner from Southampton’s Western Community Hospital has left to pursue her lifelong ambition of being a pharmacist.

Colleagues today paid tribute to Andreia Goncalves, who had worked for Solent NHS Trust for nine years and played a particularly important role with her team throughout the covid pandemic.

Andreia started out as a bank team member in December 2014 before becoming a staff member seven years later in December 2021. In recent years, she worked as a housekeeper on Snowdon Ward.

Once her children were older, she decided it was time to follow her career dreams and has joined University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust as a pharmacy support worker.

Fay Stavrogiannopoulou, FM Assistant Manager, Audit and Compliance, at Solent NHS Trust, said: “We all enjoyed working with Andreia and will miss her very much, but we are so proud of her. She was going to start an apprenticeship here and she said that process had helped build her confidence.

“Andreia enjoyed working at Solent, particularly during the pandemic when she felt it was rewarding to be supporting the country during such a challenging time.

“She was always happy, supportive and straightforward. We wish her lots of luck in her new job with a different trust.”

Back to news