THREE grateful staff at a Suffolk hospital have returned to their demanding physical jobs after each undergoing knee operations.

Will Clarke

THREE grateful staff at a Suffolk hospital have returned to their demanding physical jobs after each undergoing knee operations.

With 70 years' experience between them, Gill Malik, Linda Broughton and Jennifer Walton have thanked health care colleagues at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds for their swift recovery.

All three have had replacement knee operations in the past 15 months and they have all since returned to their challenging roles as housekeepers on the wards within 12 weeks of their operations.

The trio thanked staff at the hospital and reassured other prospective knee operation patients over the benefit of surgery.

Mrs Malik said: “I know I speak for all three of us when I say we are really grateful for the care we received as we know we could never have afforded to pay for these operations.

“We are thankful to have such a great health service to fall back on in our time of need. I think everyone was surprised at how quickly we got back to work as we all do such physical jobs.

“We had a lot of assistance from the trust's occupational health department, which helped us phase our returns and gave us lots of advice.

“We believe that with the right care from employers, many people could get back to work after knee replacement ops.

“We are all Unison (the health service union) members and long service staff and we wanted to tell our story in this 60th anniversary year of the NHS. It is the best health service in the world and we should celebrate and protect it.”

The trio are now looking forward to attending a special dance organised by Unison to celebrate the milestone year in the Southgate Centre in Bury on October 25.

Tickets cost £1 and are available from the union on 01284 713616 or from any hospital Unison steward.