I HAVE been a visitor and patient at Whiston Hospital for many years.

Nowadays I am regularly there picking up my daughter who works in nursing.

During the past few years I have noticed the regularity of people who are always at the ready to put forward points that are very critical of the service.

I admit that all public services are not, or cannot be, what people want them to be but can I ask who is to be the judge of the disgraceful treatment of the staff by the very people they are trying to help? Do the people who are always at the ready to point out the wrongs ever visit A and E at weekends when the drunks are assaulting the staff, police and ambulance crew?

Do they ever complain when visiting, or as a patient, when people who are smoking congregate outside the entrance doors where there is a no smoking zone and sit underneath a loudspeaker calling out for people who are smoking to leave this area?

I have sat in my car with the windows closed and could quite clearly hear the request and could not believe the ignorance of the people ignoring this.

I have been in hospital more in the last few years than ever in my life and never compared the food with what my mother used to cook, but I do appreciate hospitals are not catering for family-sized groups but, in many cases, for hundreds of people.

Here again I am not saying all is right all of the time, but what I will say is that if you want better than you're getting, just remember this next time you eat a burger or a takeaway meal. The providers of these haven’t had the best of credit over the past few years.

Finally may I add that I have written many letters to different hospitals thanking the doctors, staff and all concerned during my treatment. Next time you feel like a moan about the NHS ask yourself how much are you taking for granted. All I can say is thank God we have people who spend most of their life trying to make other people’s lives bearable if not a pleasure.

Les Woods, Sutton