Dedicated workers

I have no desire to malign the due respect afforded the doctors and nurses of this frontline profession, the ones who have first and most direct contact with the public at large; a public who feel that they have their own right to be themselves, under any circumstance, according to their own personal wants and needs.

In that respect they display remarkable patience and tolerance way above that expected by the private individual.

But does anyone, in all honesty, realise quite the support afforded by the ‘hospital and clinical ancillary staff’ who could be anything – whether a cook, a cleaner, a receptionist, a porter or even a gardener – who are all briefed to make your stay as comfortable as possible under often rather uncomfortable circumstances.

But of course they are short of beds, and staff and ancillary workers.

I used to be an Associate of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors but felt that the association had lost its way by allowing profit to override its true function, which was to give a full and reasonable account – irrespective of profit – so that the individual may decide.

As an individual with personal experience of odd circumstances, I discovered a previously unsung nest of dedicated workers comprised of Home from Hospital carers and volunteers who effectively, very effectively I might add, relieve the strain placed on the known NHS trust bed shortage by offering carers.

My own Home from Hospital care favourite is a girl called Jeanette Procter, from Carers’ Resource, who will drive me to the shops whilst my feet heal. It is people such as she who really care and have the ability to laugh in the face of adversity.

So for Jeanette and her colleagues I will offer this quote on their behalf: “We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”

BRYAN SENIOR Haworth Brow