"If Macclesfield Hospital was a hotel, it would be five star"

If Macclesfield Hospital was a hotel, it would be five star. I can say that now, because I've used the service as a patient: a serious operation (bowel cancer) and a week in hospital attended by a range of delightful, and more importantly, competent staff.

I used to work at the hospital in a non-medical capacity, so I knew it well and many of the staff. But this was the first time in my life - I am now 76 - that I had had a serious operation or spent a night in hospital.

The 'pre op' service reassured me, from the absolutely straightforward words of the consultant to the chatty conversation of the registrar, to the wonderful nurses and experts in their various fields.

All I can say is that, between them, they got me through the most serious setback I had ever had in my life. I tried to take the view from Day One that if all these people were going to this trouble for me, I had better believe in them, put my trust in them.

I think that's the only way you can approach the crisis. I have been lucky, so far (nearly five months on) not requiring chemotherapy and recovering quite quickly. So it's thankyou to all the staff involved in the rather shocking journey I made into the unknown.

To anyone reading this, and facing a major operation: good luck. Believe in the staff who know their jobs. Oh, and the food is not bad either - better than 'not bad, it's very good. Five star!