HOSPITAL theatre staff are backing a new nationwide NHS recruitment campaign.

Members of the theatre team at Airedale Hospital are keen to share their experiences to show the career paths that are available to staff in the health service.

Wendy Layard and Val Dawson have taken part in a radical training and development scheme which was launched at the Steeton hospital in 2000. Wendy, 36, from Denholme, started working at Airedale as a departmental porter and was the first person from theatre who patients would come into contact with.

Reassurance was a big part of her job, but once the patients arrived at theatre reception, Wendy would have to pass them on to another person. Eighteen months ago, intervention care service manager Helen Barker had a plan which would enable Wendy to stay with patients throughout the procedure.

The plan united porters, orderlies and auxiliaries into health care support workers, and has enabled patients to see familiar faces before and after procedures.

Wendy said: "I particularly enjoy not having to leave the patient I have brought from the ward. I can support them throughout until they go to sleep and I try to see them before they leave recovery."

She added: "I can meet them on the ward, talk to them during the procedure, and then be with them to settle them back into the ward. It's a good feeling to know I have made a difference to that person's experience in theatre."

Val Dawson, 41, from Silsden, started working in the NHS as an auxiliary nurse with the elderly and mentally infirm. She joined Airedale in 1984, moving to the theatre department two years later. She is now training to become an operating department practitioner (ODP) -- a key member of the operating theatre team which assists surgeons and anaesthetists.

Val said: "It took a bit of getting used to, but it has been worth it because we have taken on extra duties like setting up the equipment trays for the operating theatre." Anyone interested in finding out more about any of the 170 different careers in the NHS should call the NHS Careers hotline on 0845 60 60655 or visit the web site on www.nhs.uk/careers.