SIR, Through your columns I would like to thank the staff of the Worcester Royal Hospital for their care, while I was recently in hospital. During my short spell in the A&E followed by the AMU Departments, I was privileged to observe the interplay between the nursing staff and us, the patients.

The good humour, politeness and care shown by the frontline staff was, or is, wonderful to hear. When you also realise that it is backed by their highly trained proficiency with today's modern technologies, you have to accept our Health Service is exceptional. I must single out 'Kirsty' and 'Vicky' as being the embodiment of the whole of today's nursing expertise in our National Health system.

Of course I accept that in any group of people, there are those who fail to match up to expectations. However, today's media seem to delight in picking up these few exceptions. With banner headlines and constant television reports, they play these up, well beyond their importance to the profession as a whole.

By contrast the media report the repeated objectionable and antisocial behaviour of those super stars in the entertainment and sporting world as a joke. Having fawnly adulated them into the limelight as role models, they flippantly excuse their actions as due to an unfortunate excess of alcohol or drugs.

To put things into a proper perspective, the actual role of entertainment and sport in the media, is to plug the gaps while we, the ordinary people, attempt to live a real life. Ask anyone looking for a job or is lucky enough to be actually working.

The real heroes in our day-to-day society, are the ambulance crews, paramedics, porters, nurses of all categories, doctors at all levels of their profession, surgeons and consultants. These are the front line staff of our NHS.

Ask anyone who has travelled abroad, with their eyes wide open. Our country has the finest free medical service in the world. Why do so many people want to come here?

If the media really want heroes, then forget the highly paid entertainment and sporting 'personalities.' Tell us instead how many lives were saved last night, in hospitals up and down the country? How many broken bodies were repaired in the last twenty-four hours?

Come on media, support our real 4/7 heroes - the frontline staff of our health service.

ROBERT DOUGHTY Fernhill Heath