NHS colleagues pay tribute to Geordie Hospital star Katherine Watson who helped hospital patients and staff through Covid
21 September 2024, 16:51 | Updated: 21 September 2024, 17:00
NHS colleagues have paid tribute to their Geordie Hospital star Katherine Watson who was found dead yesterday.
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Watson was often known as Katie, and was a well known community figure after appearing in the TV series Geordie Hospital, which looked at her work as a chaplain.
The 50-year-old ex-Army officer had been missing from the Newcastle area since early Thursday afternoon, but yesterday police confirmed a body had been identified in the Jesmond Dene area.
Formal identification is still to take place, but it's thought the body is Katherine's.
Thousands who experienced her care and support at Newcastle Hospitals have shared messages and memories in praise of her.
One retired doctor who worked with her at the hospital said on social media: "For many of us at Newcastle Hospitals she was our rock during the worst parts of the Covid pandemic."
Another described her as "one of the most wonderful women I have had the pleasure of knowing".
A Royal Military Police veteran who served in conflict zones such as the Balkans and Northern Ireland, recalled how she charmed viewers across the North East and beyond on the television programme.
The Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, and the Bishop of Berwick, the Right Reverend Mark Wroe, said they mourned Ms Watson's death with a "deep feeling of loss".
They said she lived her life with "service, compassion and humility", whilst adding: "Our first thoughts are with her partner Emily and their children and all who knew and loved Katie."
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Superintendent Darren Adams, of Northumbria Police, said: "This is an incredibly sad outcome and our thoughts are with Katherine's loved ones at this difficult time.
"We will continue to support them in any way we can and we ask that their privacy is respected.
"Our thanks go to everyone who shared our appeals, provided information and supported our search for Katherine."
Police also said her disappearance was 'out of character' and that they were "increasingly concerned for her welfare".
Having joined the army at the age of 18 in 1992, Katherine completed basic training at the Army Women's Training Centre in Guildford before travelling to undertake trade training with the Royal Military Police at Chichester.
She undertook two operational tours to Bosnia and Croatia during the genocide in 1994 and 1995, and then was deployed as a Searcher Corporal in Northern Ireland.
She was selected to attend the commissioning course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and Katie was commissioned in August 1997, before returning to the RMP.
In 2002 she left the Army and trained with Humberside Probation service, before starting her ordination training.
Then in 2007 Katie joined the Newcastle team on a long placement, and admitted that she "forgot to leave".
In 2020, she was appointed as head of chaplaincy.
In the runup to being featured on Geordie Hospital, Katherine told The Church of England: "Our department motto is 'for everything else there's a chaplain'.
"We only have two things to offer, the gifts of time and presence, but we give them whole heartedly.
"We provide chaplaincy 24/7, 365 days a year, and during the pandemic we never went away.
"As Head of Chaplaincy, she oversaw a team of 13 chaplains from a variety of religious beliefs - including Sikh, Hindu, Jewish, Pastoral, Muslim and Christian faiths – to provide spiritual support and comfort to patients."
Before the first series of Channel 4's Geordie Hospital in 2022, she spoke emotively about the role of hospital chaplains.
She said: "We try to help in so many ways, from helping get hold of food bank vouchers for someone or baptising a baby which might be likely to die in a few hours, or moving a little one down to the chapel of rest - there really is so much in our remit.
"This role isn't for everyone, and people would need to spend time with us to understand the complexity and diversity of what we are called to do.
"Healthcare Chaplaincy is a very specific calling and requires a great deal of resilience and life experience."
"Once you have seen genocide first hand on the streets of a European country," she explained.
"There is nothing left in the world that can faze you after that.
"I have seen the worst of humanity and I have seen, and continue to see, the very best of it."
