Hope Haven celebrates latest milestone as King Street hub opens
A proud daughter shares how she’s following in her father’s footsteps by working in the same hospital.
Cat Monaghan is an administration officer in the Central Therapies Inpatients Team at Walkergate Park.
Her job is to arrange patient transport, which is fitting as her dad was an ambulance driver for the hospital.
Cat’s dad Maurice Farrelly was a well-known face at Walkergate Park. He had been working for the North East Ambulance Service for over 10 years when he died suddenly from Covid in 2021, aged 63.
Before joining the NHS, Maurice had been in the RAF. Outside of work, he enjoyed trips in the caravan, swimming, bike riding and photography.
He was rarely seen without his grandson Connor, with Cat describing Maurice as a huge role model to her son.
He was admired by all at Walkergate Park, often referred to as the jolly green giant because of his ambulance uniform.
Maurice always went above and beyond for patients. At Christmas, he was known to decorate the ambulance and take patients out to see the Christmas lights.
Cat said: “Walkergate Park was made for dad and he was made for Walkergate Park. He was always amazed at the patients’ progress, being able to see them come in on a stretcher and then walk out when they had been discharged.”
Maurice was always encouraging Cat to work at Walkergate Park.
“I’d worked at the RVI for a long time and was ready for a change,” she explained. “I initially applied for a ward clerk job here but didn’t get it. Then this job came up and I felt like it was meant to be.”
Cat joined the team in 2023 and says Walkergate Park quickly felt like family.
“Everybody took me under their wing because of my dad,” she said.
Cat’s mam Mary also worked for the NHS, in the RVI’s eye department. She spoke of Maurice’s love for the job. “He had really found his niche at Walkergate Park and always said it was the best job ever. It’s bittersweet that Cat didn’t get to work there at the same time as him.”
Cat added: “I know for a fact he’d be asking me what work I’d got on or if I was stressed, he’d ask what help I needed.”
Cat feels proud of the legacy her dad has left at the hospital.
“I don’t think I had properly grieved and had been putting my head in the sand,” she said. “I was trying to be the strong one and hold it together for my family. Working here has helped me heal and go through the grieving process.
“People still come up to me in the corridor to tell me stories about my dad and staff in the café say they still expect to see him coming in for a bacon sandwich.
“I can talk to people about him and sit on his memorial bench in the garden. His memory is still very much alive here.”
