Speaking up for kind and caring NHS staff

OVER the last few months, there have been several letters concerning hospitalisation which people have experienced, some good, some bad. The latest one was “attacked on the wards” (Yorkshire Post, July 30) which certainly was not one of the good ones. May I add my own experience.

On November 29 last year, I was on a bus leaving Otley Bus Station, when the bus stopped suddenly and I was thrown out of my seat against the front inner wall of the bus.

Three police constables, together with three traffic police and three paramedics, attended and I was duly taken to Harrogate District Hospital where it was found that the neck of my femur was shattered. A lengthy operation followed the next day.

I spent eight weeks in Harrogate Hospital, three weeks on Farndale Ward and five weeks on Granby Ward.

The care I was given and the kindness shown by all the medical and nursing teams, porters and cleaning staff, was second to none.

They were, quite simply, wonderful people. Every request of mine was met with a smile and a quick, efficient response.

May I also mention and thank the staff at the Jubilee Heart Centre at the Leeds General Infirmary where I spent six days in February of last year for a heart operation under the care of Dr D Blackman. There, too, the staff were excellent.

Following some of the adverse comments I have read concerning the NHS I feel that I have been very fortunate 
indeed to have received such excellent care from two different hospitals.

It is a pity I cannot say the same about the bus company. A little compassion and a touch of tlc would not have gone amiss.