A BURY health chief who was responsible for the quality of nursing in the town has retired.

For the past ten and a half years, Mrs Angela Abbott had held the post of executive nurse director with Bury Health Care NHS Trust and latterly Pennine Care NHS.

She has now taken early retirement to allow her to spend more time with her husband and to pursue her studies. In February, Mrs Abbott began an 18-month Masters law degree with Northumbria University, specialising in clinical negligence and medical law.

She began her career as a nurse in 1967, working as a cadet and a student nurse in Withington, Manchester. After qualifying, Mrs Abbott went to work at the Queen Mother's Hospital in Glasgow, where she trained as a midwife. She went back to work in medicine and was a ward sister at the city's Royal Infirmary.

Later, she returned to Manchester, where she currently lives, to carry out health visiting.

ater, she worked at the NHS regional offices and held various managerial positions before taking up her appointment in Bury.

She explained: "I was responsible for providing the Trust board with advice and direction about nursing and working with nurses to determine the strategy of nursing in Bury. Overall, I was responsible for the quality of nursing services."

Mrs Abbott added: "I've loved my time in Bury. The nurses are superb and the team spirit between nurses and doctors is very good. It's the fact that I'm leaving colleagues behind which is the hardest part of taking early retirement."

She received a silver watch from her employers and a limited edition decorative Florence Nightingale wall plate from her colleagues at a farewell presentation.