Thank you to all our NHS workers

THANK God for our National Health Service!

It is beleaguered by cuts, by staffing shortages and by winter pressures, yet still the dedicated doctors and nurses battle on to provide a good service which is free to those who need it.

Staff at The Emergency Hospital at Cramlington and at The Wansbeck Hospital saved my partner’s life when he was diagnosed with colon cancer last autumn.

However it was obvious that on the surgical ward at Cramlington they were greatly under stress, at one point with only one doctor to deal with three wards, and he had just seen 14 people in the hour before he was due to see my partner, who had waited for seven hours.

Luckily there was a change of staff just before our turn and we got a lady doctor who was fresh, having just started her nightshift.

My partner was finally operated on by a very competent surgeon and staff and all appears to have gone very well. We are very grateful for that. Then very early on Easter Saturday morning I became ill with a stomach upset and either fell or fainted on my way to the bathroom smashing the back of my head on the tiled floor.

I had to be taken to the emergency hospital at Cramlington where I was seen within minutes by lovely nurses and a very competent doctor who checked my blood, brain and heart before stitching me up.

Once satisfied that I was OK, my partner was able to take me home where I’m now feeling much better. I feel so lucky to be able to get this first class attention and I do hope that my MP and her political colleagues from all parties will co-operate together to ensure that our unique National Health Service gets the funding and attention which it so greatly needs and deserves.

ROSEMARY THOMPSON

Morpeth