I’m a nurse still working 60-hour weeks aged 80

A great-grandmother is still putting in 60-hour work weeks at the age of 80 and says she has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

Wound specialist Sylvie Hampton only began her nursing career in her 40s, but still works gruelling 18-hour days, rarely stopping to take a day off.

Mrs Hampton, from Hailsham, East Sussex, says she can still work as hard as any 20-year-old and is not at all ashamed of her age.

The hardworker says she sympathises with older workers opting to ‘botox’ their CVs to obscure their age.

The great-grandmother admitted she does sometimes worry about the fact that she completed her last degree nearly 25 years ago, and whether employers take this into account.

But her career saw her named as one of the top ten nurses in the world at the 2024 Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award, dubbed the Nobel Prize of nursing.

She said: ‘I don’t take days off. If I go to Ireland or up North, it all adds up to around 60 or 60 hours a week.

‘I feel as good as I did at 30. I can still work as hard as any 20-year-old. I’m really enjoying it, and I have no plans to retire. If you enjoy what you do, it’s not difficult.’

Referencing her age, Mrs Hampton said she isn’t surprised other elderly workers are doctoring their CVs to hide their ages – something she calls ‘botoxing’.

Still, she said, ‘People really do judge you for your age, but I am not ashamed of my age. I tell anyone who asks, though I don’t think I behave my age.

‘I have degrees, but I did them a long time ago, and that does worry me a bit. My latest degree is from 2002. But I’ve never had a problem with it. I know wound care so well. People don’t judge me on my qualifications, but on my results.’

Mrs Hampton said she knew she wanted to be a nurse from the time she was five years old. After working as a healthcare assistant for more than a decade, she decided to do her training.

Mrs Hampton has had a huge impact in the field of wound care, after founding a service quickly recognised as exemplary by the NHS.

She also opened a wound healing centre that gained international recognition after healing wounds in patients.

These achievements led to her beating nearly 80,000 nominees from across the world to reach the top ten in 2024’s Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award.

Though she didn’t win, Mrs Hampton was flown out to Bengaluru in India for the ceremony and is immensely proud of her achievement.

Mrs Hampton cares for private patients and is currently looking for ways to offer virtual clinics using AI glasses, which would make treatment more affordable.

Despite her love for nursing, Mrs Hampton says the issues in the NHS mean the pleasure of giving care is ‘gone’.

‘When I came into nursing, I absolutely loved working in the NHS. But I wouldn’t do it now. All of that pleasure of giving care is gone,’ she said.

‘There should be incentives for people to get into nursing. Nurses need to be better cared for. I love being a nurse. I have a real passion for wound healing that has never left me. I adore everything I do, and that’s why I’m still working at my age.’

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