THEY are the team behind the team, for many the first point of contact for the Trust, and during the pandemic were the people responsible for cancelling the hundreds of consultations, clinics and surgeries.

But who exactly are the Access, Booking and Choice Team, what do they do and where are they based?

Denise Jolley is one of more than 30 booking clerks responsible for dealing with the many hundreds of GP referrals every week from their bases on the top floor of Musgrave House and also at Bolton One.

She said: “I always think we are the epicentre of the hospital. The patients’ journey starts here in our fantastic department. 

“We process all GP referrals, from routine, urgent to our extremely urgent cancer pathway patients.

"We have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, cancelling thousands of appointments and admissions for surgery at the start of the outbreak, reassuring patients all the time on the phone.

"The department has constantly been evolving throughout, we have spent a lot of time converting thousands of appointments to telephone call or video call appointments, this is a mammoth task and a totally new way of working.”