THE NHS has long been the subject of criticism, usually because funding cuts have led to trimmed resources so services suffer.

But, there’s one unassailable fact about our NHS we need to acknowledge: nobody does it better.

We were reminded of just how good and caring hospital staff can be this week by the very touching story of devoted couple Bert and Beatrice Whitehead. She is 87 and battling bone cancer at the Royal Bolton Hospital and Bert is 90 and also currently hospitalised.

They were being treated on separate wards, with Bert being taken regularly by wheelchair to visit his ailing wife. But now, staff have moved Bert’s bed next to his wife’s and it’s certain this is a real comfort to them both.

As always, it is the small details, the caring, the sheer humanity of our local hospital staff which show the wonderful service we have there.