STAFF and patients at Inverclyde Royal Hospital have said farewell to a much-loved physiotherapist who has retired.

Karen Henderson said it was an emotional moment to walk out of the doors of the hospital for the final time after working there for just short of a decade.

The 59-year-old has loved her job caring for people throughout the area suffering from chronic pain.

She said: "I was in the outpatient department and was lucky enough to work with Bruce Coyle who is the team leader for musculoskeletal physiotherapy.

"It's a really caring and supportive team and we worked closely with the doctors and nurses and the admin staff - IRH is such a lovely hospital.

"Every day you go in and everyone says good morning and you get to know people.

"It was a lovely place to work."

Karen, who also worked at the Royal Alexandra in Paisley, said her role was very rewarding.

She added: "Everybody we are seeing is through the pain service, so they have chronic pain.

"It's quite challenging but really rewarding.

"We see patients with anything that causes long term pain such as fibromyalgia, anything where the pain is not going away.

"We use a whole team to help them to manage that."

Karen, who was keen to thank service manager Aline Williams, says she will really miss her colleagues and patients but it looking forward to her retirement.

She said: "It was emotional on my last day - it was a surreal moment.

"I've got a retiral lunch at the end of the month but I really will miss my colleagues and the people of Inverclyde.

"I'm looking forward to a holiday to Canada too."