But many of us might not give as much thought to another team behind the scenes, making sure that everything they need to do their jobs is ready to go.

For 45 years, Ray Genge has been one of those, as a member of the maintenance team at Forbes Health Service.

Now he has handed in his tools, marking retirement with a celebration with colleagues.

Ray actually joined the team at the hospital on a temporary basis more than four decades ago, but you could say he's made the role his own.

He's turned his hand to just about everything from the mail and the lawns right through to ensuring the back-up power generator is ready to kick in in the event of a power outage.

Ray shared some of his memories with the Advocate this week and said problem-solving skills have always been critical in the broad-reaching role, whether that was grinding down a nut to fit a particular support for the physiotherapy team or working out why the electronic beds have stopped working.

There have been many changes during Ray's time from hospital beds to uniforms, and even more so when he considers the developments in medical equipment.

In his earlier years on the job the maintenance team would carry out jobs like replacing the pressure valves on old blood-pressure machines, any work needed on today's technology is carried out by a biomedical engineering team.

At all times, there's the knowledge that you need to get any piece of equipment up and running again to minimise disruption to patients and critical services.

One day that stands out in Ray's mind was the day the steam boiler needed repair: he and his colleague had to pull it apart, have it pressure welded, and get it back together. It passed all testing and was brought back into service.

Ray's colleagues gifted him an engraved Leatherman's multi tool, a Mitre 10 voucher and certificate signed by Chief Executive, Scott McLachlan. And that's just the ticket as he plans to get stuck into a few projects at home in retirement.