The family who work together at Melton Hospital

Mark and Collette Salmon and their daughter, Danielle, all perform different roles at the Thorpe Road facility.

Mark is a domestic assistant porter and his wife is a receptionist, while Danielle is an assistant working in catering and domestic duties.

On working with her husband of 39 years, Collette said: “it’s good that we both understand what work we both undergo daily and can understand when we have to stay on or get called in or if any problems have occurred and we can talk and understand what we are on about.

“We love working together - my colleague said only this week that my face lights up when he comes in and I get to boss him around at work as well as at home.”

The family are a great example of the many heroes who form the backbone of the NHS Property Services, but rarely get the recognition they deserve for the contributions they make to the health service.

They played a big part during the Covid pandemic in helping with a deep cleaning of the hospital, organising personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff and facilitating care for patients suffering from the virus.

The couple, who are both aged 61, have been together since they were 16 after meeting in a park.

Collette, who has worked in the NHS for 36 years, was pleased when Mark joined her in working at the hospital, commenting: “He now understands more of the things I come up against being on reception on a daily basis as well as finding out the knowledge I have of the buildings, staff and operations and that I don’t just answer the phone.

“Mark has come into a totally different place of work, he was asked to come and help out at the beginning of the pandemic, delivering PPE to different hospitals from Lincoln to Northampton.

“He worked in a wood yard previously and has embraced all the different training and rules of a hospital.”

Danielle has worked for the health service for 11 years, in cleaning, catering, reception and portering and over the pandemic she worked double shifts to enable the smooth running of operations.

Collette has two other children with Mark and the couple are awaiting the birth of their 10th grandchild in July.