A HEALTH worker has met Prime Minister Gordon Brown as part of celebrations to mark 60 years of the NHS.

Lynda Farmer was one of 10 people who met Mr Brown at an event in Downing Street attended by 150 NHS workers.

The celebration was to honour the contribution made by past and present NHS staff.

Mrs Farmer trained as a nurse in 1982 at the Joyce Green Hospital, Burnham Road, Dartford.

She is now a clinical practice facilitator at the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

She said: "I was honoured to be invited by the Prime Minister and it was lovely to meet him. He thanked me for all my hard work."

The 44-year-old, of Temple Hill, Dartford, spent her childhood in hospital suffering from renal disease, which almost claimed her life.

She added: "I never thought of doing anything other than becoming a nurse.

"As my mum said, I'd spent so long in hospital I might as well work in one."