GREAT WESTERN HOSPITAL: Swindon's Mayor Derek Benfield has heaped praise on the town's flagship hospital after his wife Pam was rushed there following a minor stroke.

Coun Benfield (Lab, Covingham and Nythe) told how he feared the worst after Pam, 70, started suffering convulsions last month.

He said: "From the moment I rang for an ambulance until Pam was discharged her treatment could not have been better. The person that answered the emergency call was so calm and reassuring, the extremely efficient ambulance crew, the emergency and accident unit literally sprang into action for a quick diagnosis.

"Our message to all the staff is well done. Our sincere thanks to each and everyone of you, keep doing what you know best and Swindon will have a hospital that will be the envy of many other towns."

Pam, who worked as an education supply assistant at Nythe School for 27 years, was diagnosed with diabetes 40 years ago and has been taking insulin ever since.

In the past six years she has also fought off cancer and now has six-monthly check-ups. Coun Benfield, who lives with Pam in Covingham, said: "She's been through a lot. But she's a real fighter."

Last month the family of school welfare officer Pauline Moore, who lost her five-week battle with cancer, praised the Great Western Hospital.

Pauline, who was the student mentor service manager at Dorcan School, died in October at the GWH, aged 55.

She was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus after doctors found a tumour the size of a fingernail in September.

Her son Paul, 35, wrote to the GWH to express his gratitude for the compassion and professionalism shown by the staff on Neptune Ward.

Paul, of Dorking, Surrey, told the Evening Advertiser: "The staff were incredible. It's a testament to their care that mum wanted to stay in the hospital for her last few days rather than be transferred to Prospect Hospice. Her illness came about so quickly so it was all a shock.

"But this is a happy story really because although mum died, the care she received at the hospital shows that there is a difference people can make.

"I think people have too high an expectation of the NHS to a certain extent. It is a stretched service but staff perform very well."

Shirley Hoare, 65, says she looks back on her husband's time in hospital with great fondness.

Shirley's sentiments are a fitting tribute to the care and attention Terry received after suffering a stroke.

Terry, 66, was taken to the Great Western Hospital in July after being left paralysed on the bedroom floor following a major stroke in July.

He spent two weeks on Jupiter Ward at the GWH before being transferred next door to the Swindon Intermediate Care Centre (SwICC), which provides rehabilitation and support to 60 patients.

Shirley said staff at both the hospital and SwICC could not have been kinder, and helped her as well as Terry following his stroke.

She said: "You always hear of people complaining about hospital care and no one seems to bother to tell about the good side.

"I'm very pleased the figures have shown that the hospital is doing well. There are so many people needing hospital care and staff are under a lot of pressure.

"They were all so kind to us when Terry was taken ill from the ambulance right through to his rehabilitation. I would like to wish them all a Merry Christmas."