FRIENDS and colleagues from East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust said a fond farewell to children's nurse manager Neville Barnett when he retired after a career spanning almost five decades.

Neville has pioneered improvements for children and their families, including the introduction of a children's admissions unit -- the first of its kind in the North West-- as well as a nursing outreach service for premature babies and the Blackburn Partnership Model of Care which involves working with parents to improve care for children.

He started work in 1957 as a student nurse in Preston and qualified as a registered nurse in 1960. He began work in Blackburn in 1972 and became a charge nurse and then a nurse manager in paediatrics.

In 1980, Neville was granted a scholarship by the Florence Nightingale Memorial Fund to study the effects of hospitalisation on children. The study took Neville to the USA and the Philippines and on his return to Blackburn he brought back a wealth of knowledge and a better understanding of children's needs.

Neville lives in Lammack with his wife Christine who has also recently retired from nursing. He has two children, 19-year-old Helen, who is following in her parents footsteps and training to be a nurse, and James, an electrician.

Neville and his wife enjoy holidays in the sun and plan to go on a cruise to the Bahamas in January. He is also learning Spanish.