Doing the rounds on the wards

ANCILLARY workers are the National Health Service's "invisible" workers: nurses and doctors may get all the glamour and the glory, but without these essential support staff NHS hospitals would simply grind to a halt.

"The public only see the hospital staff as doctors and nurses, without realising that the hospital team would not function if the ancillary link was missing," says Carles Martinez, a catering assistant at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford. The work - which encompasses a range of jobs from portering to cleaning - can be demanding, and the financial rewards are far from immense. But on the positive side there are personal benefits from serving the public as part of the NHS.

Len Hockey, a porter at Whipps Cross Hospital, Leytonstone, and assistant branch secretary for the main ancillary union Unison, says: "I work with a lot of interesting people and feel I am an integral part of the healthcare team, delivering a service to the patient. There's a lot of job satisfaction. "On the minus side, you work longer hours than other staff, and it's low paid. You need to come into this line of work with your eyes open. It is physically hard; a porter will walk miles round the hospital every week in the course of his job." Ancillary workers are not involved directly in providing health care, but patients and their relatives often look to them for help and reassurance, whether to get directions round the hospital, or needing a cup of tea and a chat. "You can contribute in a positive way. People in hospital are often angry or upset, and as a porter you find yourself, from time to time, chatting with them, perhaps bringing comfort to a patient who is feeling low or anxious," says Mr Hockey. Many ancillaries interact a lot with patients and visitors: "It's hard work, but I like the people I meet. The patients are all right. They know me very well and we talk. It's very friendly," says Michael Knight, a cleaner at St Ann's Hospital in Harringey. Other benefits include flexibility - people with family commitments can often work part-time with hours that suit their personal circumstances - and training - many hospitals offer National Vocational Qualifications or Return to Learn courses. The work may be tough, but other jobs are tougher. As Sue Keating a domestic and housekeeper at St Ann's says: "I joined the NHS after bringing up a family. I found myself thinking: 'I'm getting paid for hoover-ing!'" * NHS ancillary work is normally advertised in the pages of local newspapers and job centres. Alternatively you can find out about vacancies by writing to the hospital director of personnel.

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