JENNY Goodman first came across the spinal centre at Salisbury District Hospital when working as a volunteer pushing the WRVS trolley around the hospital.

“I had come back from travelling and needed something to do – the spinal unit was on my round and having been introduced to it in that way made me brave enough to apply for a job when it came up,” she says.

“I had previously worked as a nursery nurse and done some nannying but wanted to do something a bit different and decided to become a health care support worker.

“On the unit, health care support workers work as part of the team,which enables us to be involved in the rehab of our patients in our day to day work.

"We’re teaching even when patients don’t realise it, for example, if you’re helping to get somebody dressed you ask them what you might have to think about in doing it, encouraging them all the time.

For 13 years I worked on one of the wards full time, trained to become a senior health care support worker and then a job came up in the outpatients department.

“A lot of planned procedures are run by outpatients like bladder studies, the seating of inpatients and pressure area care as well as all the outpatient services.

“In November I will have been here 25 years. My time is split between working with inpatients and with outpatients.

“Our patients are here long term - they are not in and out within a week like in other departments but stay for three, six, nine months. We really get to know them, their family and friends.

“A lot of the recreational rehab has taken off in the last couple of years due to a legacy which is not only nice, but so necessary. I sometimes go with the patients to places like Kew Gardens and Mudeford and the Haynes car museum, as additional work.

“It’s brilliant to see patients come back and see how much they have changed and what they have done with their lives. My job can be challenging but very rewarding.”