Parents are being encouraged to recognise the symptoms of a viral infection after an increase of cases affecting babies and children under two in Hull.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has seen an increase in the number of children admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary this month with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

The virus can be breathed in when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Younger children can also pick up RSV from a toy infected with the virus, which can survive on a surface for 24 hours, and then rubbing their eyes, mouth or nose.

Senior Matron Vanessa Brown said: “We start seeing more and more cases of RSV at this time of the year and we are already seeing an increase in admissions of very young children.

“While the vast majority of children will only experience unpleasant symptoms for a few days, RSV can be more serious for those with existing health conditions, the very young or those who were born prematurely.

“Parents can help prevent their child catching RSV in the first place by taking a few simple steps and recognising the symptoms can help you cope with what can be an anxious time.

“While antibiotics won’t help your child, there are steps you can take to make them more comfortable and help them recover well within days.”

What is RSV?

It’s a common virus which almost all children will have caught by the time they reach the age of two. It can lead to bronchiolitis in babies and younger children although it normally only causes a cough or cold in older children and adults. Outbreaks are seasonal, usually occurring between November and January and peaking just before Christmas, although sporadic cases are seen year-round.

How can my baby catch RSV?

When an infected person coughs or sneezes, tiny droplets of the virus are released into the air, affecting those who breathe in the droplets. Those droplets can also land on surfaces such as toys and survive for 24 hours, meaning they can be passed onto a child’s hand. If they rub their eyes, nose or touch their mouth, they can be infected.

A child with RSV can remain infectious and so infect other children for three weeks, even if symptoms have disappeared.

How does it make you ill?

RSV is a respiratory infection which enters the system through the windpipe. It then works its way into the lungs and causes the smallest airways in the lungs, known as the bronchioles, to become swollen. More mucus is produced which can lead to the airways becoming blocked, making breathing difficult for children who already have smaller airways.

Does anything increase my child’s chances of bronchiolitis?

Yes. Children who are bottlefed or have been breastfed for less than two months are more likely to develop bronchiolitis if they catch RSV. They’re also more likely to develop it if their parents smoke or they have been exposed to smoke, if they attend nursery or have older brothers or sisters who attend nursery and so have more chance of coming into contact with the virus.

Children who are under eight weeks old, have congenital heart disease, were premature or have chronic lung disease of prematurity are at increased risk of developing more severe bronchiolitis.

Looking after your child at home

As it’s a virus, antibiotics won’t help your child. However, you can help ease milder symptoms and avoid spreading the virus to other children by keeping them at home and away from nursery or day care

Check on them regularly throughout the night and keep them upright to make their breathing easier. Give them smaller feeds more regularly.

Don’t make your home too hot as it can dry out the air and use a dehumidifier if you have one to keep the air moist.

Ensure your child is kept away from cigarette smoke and, if they are old enough, give them paracetamol or ibuprofen to reduce high temperatures.

How do I know if it’s serious?

Most children only have mild symptoms and recover within two to three weeks. However, some signs such as breathing difficulties can indicate more serious problems.

Early signs of bronchiolitis are similar to a cold, such as a blocked or runny nose, a cough and a slight fever. However, they can develop over the next few days to include a rasping or persistent dry cough, rapid breathing or wheezing, brief pauses in breathing, reduced feeding and fewer wet nappies, vomiting after feeds and irritability.

Symptoms peak between day three and five before improving although the cough can last for three weeks.

When should I seek help?

See your GP if your child has taken less than half of their normal feed during the last two to three feeds, hasn’t had a wet nappy for 12 hours or more and is breathing very fast. If they seem very tired or irritable and have a persistent high temperature of 38 degrees or above, contact your GP.

You need to call 999 if your child has difficulty breathing or suffers exhaustion from the efforts of trying to breathe. You’ll recognise this if the muscles under their rubs are sucking in with each breath, they grunt from the effort or they become pale and sweaty. You also need an ambulance if you can’t wake your child or they can’t stay awake, their breathing stops for a long time or their skin turns very pale or blue or the inside of their lips and tongue are blue.

A youth band is set to bring festive cheer to Hull Royal Infirmary this week to help staff raising funds for sick children.

The Church Lads and Church Girls Brigade(CLB) band from St Mary’s Church in Beverley will play Christmas carols outside the tower block as relatives and friends arrive to visit loved ones in hospital on Thursday, December 13, between 6.30pm and 7.30pm.

Paediatric nurses and health care professionals caring for our youngest patients will be alongside the band with collection tins to help with their fundraising efforts to refurbish the children’s wards.

Junior sister Helen Lyon said: “We are very grateful to the young people from CLB for helping us and bringing joy to staff and patients.

“It’s a difficult time for anyone to be in hospital and we’re so pleased they will be getting us, our patients and visitors in the festive mood.

“We hope the public will support our efforts with the refurbishment of the children’s wards so we can put a smile on our younger patients all year round.”

The paediatric department, which includes Acorn Ward in Hull Women and Children’s Hospital, the Paediatric High Dependency Unit and Ward 130 West, has received some funding as part of the trust’s newly developed Arts Strategy.

Woodwork has been painted in calming blue and pastel colours and cubicles decorated with artwork including dolphins and penguin transfers to reflect the city’s fishing history and the success of The Deep. Those cubicles used by older children will also have sunflowers and trees incorporated into the design.

Cubicles used to look after children with cancer and long-term conditions will also be fitted with entertainment systems featuring TVs, DVDs and games consoles after the ward received funding from children’s charity Candle-lighters.

The playroom is also being decorated and the clinical room where children undergo procedures is also going to be refurbished over the coming months.

Staff are also asking the public to support their fundraising instead of bringing toys and selection boxes onto the wards this year. A£5 donation could help buy a wall sticker to decorating cubicles, corridors, bays and the Ward 130 playroom in sea themes.

Anyone who would like to help us can send cheques, made out to the WISHH Charity and send them to Helen Lyon, Junior Sister, Ward 130, Hull Royal Infirmary, Anlaby Road, Hull, HU3 1JZ. They can also make a donation to the WISHH Charity through www.justgiving.com/wishh, marking your donation WALLSTICKERS.

Watching him kick his legs in the swimming pool, Sarah Ferguson knows her baby son is a real-life water baby.

Elliot was one of the babies to be born under water at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre in Hull.

Preparing to celebrate their first Christmas as a family, Sarah and husband Karl say they had a fantastic birth experience with top-class care from midwife Sam Haw and the team at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

Sarah said: “It was amazing and I couldn’t fault any of it. The staff were brilliant.

“People ask me if I’d have another baby and I say I definitely would – and I’d go for another water birth if possible.”

When she became pregnant, teaching assistant Sarah researched her options and found out about the Fatima Allam Birth Centre, opened last year and led by midwives to help women with low-risk pregnancies.

She was keen to have a water birth, understanding her plans may have to change if she developed complications during her pregnancy or if the midwives involved in her care had any concerns.

“Personally, I thought it was more of a natural way of doing it rather than sitting on a bed,” she said.

Although she started having contractions at 26 weeks, they stopped again and she was able to continue with her pregnancy, going into labour on the afternoon of April 25.

She went into hospital at 1.30am the next morning but wasn’t in labour so was able to go home again. By 7.30am, she was back at the hospital and met Sam, who had just started her shift at the birth centre.

Sarah, Karl and baby Elliot

Sarah and Karl was shown to the Jasmine Suite, tastefully decorated in the style of a high-end hotel room, and Sarah was able to get into the pool.

Elliot was born at 12.25pm under water, weighing 7lbs 13 oz.

“It was just so special,” said Sarah. “The labour could not have gone more to plan.

“Sam was monitoring his heart rate all the time to make sure he was ok and his heart rate remained steady throughout.

“It was just unbelievable how your body takes over and you instinctively know what to do.

“We didn’t know we were having a boy so it was a double whammy.”

Sarah was keen to try breastfeeding but was a bit uncertain. However, within minutes of her son being born, Sam helped him to latch on and he had fed twice by the time the couple moved onto the postnatal ward with their new son to spend a night in hospital.

“If it wasn’t for Sam, I think I would have struggled to breastfeed so I’m just so grateful. I’m still breastfeeding Elliot now and I’m aiming to complete a full year.”

Sarah says, after his spectacular entrance into the world, Elliot loves being in water.

“His happiest times are when he’s in the bath – he absolutely loves the bath. When we go swimming, he’s always kicking his legs and gets really excited.”

Midwife Sam with baby Elliot

Sam said she was delighted to help Sarah and Karl bring their son into the world.

She said: “It is such a privilege to be with a couple at such a special time in their lives and I was so pleased for Sarah and Karl.

“On behalf of all of us here at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre, I’d like to wish them and Elliot a very happy Christmas.”

A team looking after hundreds of people with bleeding disorders has received a positive peer review for the quality of care given to patients.

Haemophilia services for 400 patients from Hull, the East Riding and North Lincolnshire underwent the full-day inspection against rigorous national standards as part of the peer review in November.

Now, the service based in the Queen’s Centre has become the first moderate-sized treatment centre in the UK to receive a positive peer review as part of a national programme.

Dr David Allsup, Hull Haemophilia Director in charge of the service, said: “We have received very strong and positive feedback following the peer review.

“Patients were uniformly complimentary about the service, which we were really pleased about, and the peer review team made a point of stressing that.”

Haemophilia is a rare condition affecting the body’s ability to clot. Its main symptom is bleeding that doesn’t stop, known as prolonged bleeding, but other symptoms can include nosebleeds which take a long time to stop, bleeding gums and skin that bruises easily.

Although there is no cure, people with haemophilia can receive clotting factor injections to prevent and treat prolonged bleeding.

Patients with inherited bleeding disorders come to the service for regular injections of clotting factors which the team then supports them to do at home.

The team, managed by Dr Allsup and Dr Simone Green, also looks after the patients when they come into hospital with a bleed or for surgery, supporting not just them but their families as well.

Eight members of the peer review, including two consultants, a physiotherapist and a lay person, visited the service at Castle Hill Hospital on November 20.

Dr Allsup said: “While we are already an accredited service, the point of the peer review is to identify and disseminate areas of good practice and pick up on any weaknesses.

“The team were very complimentary and the plan now is to carry on providing that high-quality service for our patients and delivering the best care we can.”

Elderly patients got some early festive cheer today when primary school pupils visited Hull Royal Infirmary.

Year 4 pupils from Biggin Hill Primary Academy in Bransholme visited Ward 80 which cares for people with dementia who are ready to be discharged from hospital.

The children, aged eight and nine, went into four bays handing out Christmas cards, telling jokes and singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas to patients.

Chiburoma Ajoku, nine, said: “I’ve really liked it because we’ve got to make people smile.”

Charlie McLeod, eight, said: “I feel happy now. I’ve learned that old people are not that scary.”

The children, accompanied by teacher Catherine Simpson and teaching assistant Sonya Wright, were brought to the hospital after Beerhouse Self Drive provided a minibus, free of charge.

Dr Fiona Thomson, Consultant in Elderly Medicine, met the children when they arrived on the ward to explain most of the patients were 85, some struggled with their hearing or memories, but all were looking forward to seeing them.

The children then went on a tour of the wards, handing out their Christmas cards to patients and entertaining them with jokes, poems and songs.

Some of the children with Mrs Muncie

Retired teacher Mary Muncie, who taught at Wansbeck Primary, put in a special request for Away In A Manger and was treated to an impromptu and unrehearsed rendition.

Clasping her hands together, Mrs Muncie said: “I taught what we called infants and juniors, so children aged five to nine, and it’s just been so nice to see the children today.”

Patient care is set to be transformed with waiting times for scans significantly reduced following an announcement today that £18m will be invested in emergency care facilities at our Trust.

As well as paying for new MRI and CT scanners for the Emergency Department, the funds will enable the children’s wards at Hull Royal Infirmary to move into the Women and Children’s hospital.

It is the biggest capital investment in facilities at the Trust for a decade and comes just two years after the Emergency Department itself was completely rebuilt. With a dedicated helipad almost complete at the rear of the Hull Royal Site, Hull’s status as a major trauma centre will be further enhanced as dedicated scanning facilities are provided on site. This will considerably reduce turnaround times for patients ensuring their journey through our hospitals is more efficient and help us to get patients in the right bed, first time.

Where the paediatric facilities are concerned patients and their families will benefit from having inpatient and outpatient facilities in the same dedicated building. Specialist nursing and medical care will be provided in one place for the first time since the construction of the Women and Children’s Hospital in 2002.

The Trust is benefitting from a share of £88.5m capital secured by the Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership (STP) which will also see a major upgrade of the Emergency Departments in Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Scarborough.

Duncan Taylor, Director of Estates, Facilities and Development at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said:

“This capital investment will help us create first-class facilities, enabling us to deliver fantastic healthcare for our patients and an unrivalled working environment for our dedicated staff.

“Our current scanners are old, prone to breakdown and we don’t have enough of them. This has a knock-on effect on patients who have appointments cancelled or have to wait longer than we would like. The public understand we could only work with what we had but it was not the service our staff wanted to provide for patients.

“Purchasing additional CT and MRI scanners will not only allow staff to see and treat more patients, people will not have to wait as long.

“We’ll also be able to reshape paediatric services, bringing together our children’s wards and services under one roof at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital. This will make a massive difference to patients and families.

“This capital investment will allow us to enhance the wonderful facilities we already have in our Emergency Departments, which are among the best in the country following a £12m refurbishment in 2016.

“We will also be able to create additional capacity in our Acute Medical Unit to improve patient flow should people coming to the Emergency Department require admission.”

Mike Proctor, Chair of the Humber, Coast and Vale Strategic Estates Board and Chief Executive of York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “This is great news for local people across our region and will enable us to make the changes we need to make to improve the way our emergency departments function.

“We will be able to see more patients more quickly, and ensure people receive an accurate diagnosis for their condition as quickly as possible.”

He remembers the date he walked into Alderson House – December 7, 1981. Press him and he’d probably know the time.

That’s the thing about Chief Nurse Mike Wright – he likes detail.

Back then, it was the Hull District School of Nursing when the boy from a working-class family in East Hull joined a group of 40 training to become nurses.

The circle will complete when Mike Wright walks out those same doors next March for the last time to begin his early retirement after 37 years, reaching the highest levels of his profession.

In his office on the first floor of the building where he started his nursing career, the words of Senior Tutor Ivy Harrison – a towering, formidable figure and a delightful lady with her royal blue belt, starched hat and court shoes – echo down the corridors of time.

“She told us ‘Welcome to the greatest profession in the world,’” says Mike. “I look back now and wonder was she right?

“For me, she was.”

Mike, 55, embarked on his nursing career after gaining eight ‘O’ levels from Andrew Marvell School.

“My parents and my grandparents, all of them were grafters,” he said. “They were hard-working people. We weren’t poor but we were never rich. We just had a good life, we were treated well and we were loved.

“I was always taught never to spend money you didn’t have, always be courteous and polite to people, never cheek your elders and take your shoes off when you go into someone’s house.”

You see the boy in the man and that strong work ethic runs through him. There are few nursing tasks, if any, Mike hasn’t done.

His career is punctuated by examples of when he’s rolled up his sleeves, regardless of his job title.

Ever an eye for forensic detail, Mike originally intended to join the police or go into law but chose nursing after his cousin and wife, both nurses in the Australian outback, came home to visit.  They convinced him it was a great life. “They were right,” he says.

First qualifying in March 1985, he was a Staff Nurse in Neurosurgery and Neurosurgical Intensive Care at Hull Royal Infirmary before shifting to General and Vascular Surgery. Back then, nurses were encouraged to build up their skills in different areas and Mike applied to all 20 centres offering the ENB 100 general intensive care nursing programme.  Gaining a place was extremely rare in those days.

He was interviewed at Guy’s Hospital in London, offered a place immediately. And that’s something else Mike does – he seizes opportunity.

He arrived in London in October 5, 1987, chuckling at the memory of his sister and her husband unloading his possessions from the back of their estate car and leaving him in the less-than-glamorous nurses’ residence. “I found out later she cried on the way home because she’d to leave me there,” he says.

Mike soon got a taste of life working in a busy hospital in central London five weeks later when fire swept through King’s Cross Station, killing 31 people.

It was the first of five major incidents or terrorist attacks he was to become involved in during his 18 years in London – Kings Cross, the Clapham rail crash, the Marchioness Disaster, the London Bridge Bombing by the IRA and the Soho Pub Bombing.

He carries memories of them all. But two – the Marchioness Disaster and Soho – haunt him.

Fifty-one people died when the pleasure cruiser Marchioness collided with the Bowbelle dredger in 1989.

Mike was charge nurse on night shift and remembers how staff, based yards away from the Thames, first knew something terrible had happened when survivors, dripping wet, started walking through the doors of Guy’s Hospital A&E after swimming for their lives.

People had bony injuries caused by the crash, hypothermia and some had to be treated for Leptospirosis or Weil’s Disease after swallowing contaminated river water.

And he remembers families, searching desperately for relatives. The ones left at the end were those whose loved ones were still on the pleasure cruiser, sunk beneath the Thames.

A decade later, he was just driving into the Tesco car park at Lewisham when he heard on the radio about an explosion outside the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho on a Friday night in April 1999. Three people were killed and more than 80 were injured when a neo-Nazi planted a nail bomb and some of the victims were brought to Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals.

“They had the most horrific injuries,” Mike says. People lost limbs, some had six-inch nails embedded all over their bodies, others had terrible burns caused by the force of the blast.

Then Directorate Manager and Head of Nursing for Anaesthesia and Theatre Services, it was all hands to the pump.

“We didn’t have enough people to look after ventilated critically injured people and I hadn’t looked after a ventilated patient for about five years but I had to take a patient myself,” he says. “You wonder if you’ll remember how to do it. But I did and it all came flooding back.”

He also remembers the following day travelling in the back of an ambulance with a student nurse to transfer another badly injured patient from the bomb to a specialist burns unit.

“All of these things make you realise no-one ever wants to be in hospital,” he says. “Our job is to try and make sure we look after you and despite the difficulties, preserve your dignity and treat you as an individual.”

Those extreme moments made him appreciate the NHS – and the people and teams who work for it – even more.

Ultimately, he spent 18 years down south, working his way up from Staff Nurse in General Intensive Care to the lofty heights of Executive Nurse Director at Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust in Kent.

He came back to Hull in October 2005, first as Executive Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Executive, and then again as Executive Chief Nurse in April 2015 after a two-and-a-bit-year stint as Executive Director of Nursing and Patient Experience at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.

“I never set out to be Chief Nurse,” he says. “It’s not something you walk up one day and say that’s what you are going to be.

“It’s just that all of my jobs have come along when the circumstances meant I was in the right place at the right time.”

He’s always been prepared to learn, to have the drive and commitment to fill in the gaps in his knowledge as he climbed the career ladder. He undertook a Masters degree in Business Administration, honing his understanding of finance because he knew he’d need it.

“I have always tried to seize the opportunity and turn it into a positive,” he says.

“I have gone through my life developing my career. It has a clinical underpinning but I didn’t have strategic leadership experience.

“My last job at Guy’s and St Thomas’ was as Deputy Chief Nurse and that taught me how to hone my negotiating, influencing and facilitation skills. This was the first time I had stepped away from directly line managing large groups of people but this then gave me the taster to becoming a chief nurse.

“In this role, you have to influence people so it requires softer negotiating skills and you encourage rather than instruct.”

During his time in Hull, he’s won national recognition for introducing fundamental nursing standards on every ward and introducing safety briefings five times a day where the acuity of patients is balanced against available staff. The patient remains at the core of everything Mike Wright does.

And it always will, despite modern ways of nursing and new technology.

For new nurses starting today, he has these pearls of wisdom.

“The fundamentals of patient care remain the same as does the essence of nursing and midwifery care – the ability to understand your patient, how they are presenting to you and what they are saying to you,” he says.

“Yes, use technology but don’t lose the human skills of assessing, listening and understanding what the signs are showing you. No technology in the world can replace that. There is always the intuitive sixth sense, which you can’t write down on a piece of paper.

“And always be compassionate – even if you don’t know what it feels like for that patient, imagine what it feels like to be them and think about how you would like you or a member of your family to be treated.

“Don’t lose sight of the part you play in supporting patients through some of the darkest and most difficult moments of their lives. They are vulnerable and they trust you.  You must never deny them that trust.”

He’s got big plans for his retirement. This is Mike Wright, of course he has. He’s going to America for a month, seeing friends, travelling Route 66 and snow-trekking and seeing the Northern Lights in Alaska. He’s planning to travel the world seeing friends.

But it’s hard, if not impossible, to imagine Mike outside of nursing. It’s been a lifelong passion and it’s likely to remain so.

He’s planning consultancy work, helping other trusts tackle nursing issues and other thorny issues, and, free from the constraints of working within the NHS, he’s set to share his views.

He makes no bones about the need for investment in training and is desperately worried about the shortage of registered nurses.

“As a trust, we’ve started to make inroads with the nursing apprenticeships and Nursing Associates but this is a national issue,” Mike says.

“How this is going to be corrected will continue to be a source of anxiety for me and I will continue to do what I can to influence that once I have left.  There’s so much more to do.

“I see nurses and midwives as national treasures. You get paid to train as a police officer or in the armed forces and you’re paid to train as a fireman. But you’re not paid to train as a nurse or a midwife and I think that’s going to have to change.”

When he walks out the door for the last time, he knows it’s the NHS team he’ll miss the most.

“It’s been a massive privilege to serve patients,” he said. “I’ve learned so much from them. I’ll miss being part of fantastic clinical teams. You come together and the team work, that dynamism and the skill of people astonishes me.  There’s nothing quite like it and I’m so lucky to have worked with and learned from such amazing people.  I’d like to thank them all.”

“I’m just really pretty humbled by the fact that I’ve had the chance to do all of this.”

Hospital doctors are appealing to people in Hull and their NHS colleagues to support their attempts to help people in India rebuild their lives after the worst floods in a century.

Devastating floods caused by unusually high rainfall during Monsoon season swept through the southern Indian state of Kerala during the summer, claiming around 500 lives and displacing millions. The Indian Government declared a “Level 3 Calamity”, reserved for severe disasters and estimate around one-sixth of the population were directly affected by the floods.

Hospital staff are helping rebuild lives and communities affected by the floods, asking their colleagues at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital and the public to help those in desperate need.

The fundraising afternoon, supported by Hull and East Riding Hindu Cultural Association, Dharma Charity Foundation and Hymers College, will be held at Hymers College main hall on Saturday, December 15.

Starting at 2pm, the multi-cultural event will feature traditional Indian dancing, ‘Bollywood’ displays, live music, stalls offering arts and crafts and henna hand painting. Pupils from Hymers School will join to perform Christmas carols throughout the afternoon.

With tickets costing £10 for adults and £5 for children aged 5 to 18, with under 5s admitted free, people will also get the chance to sample Indian street food and cakes and sweet treats.

Slideshows of Kerala, popular with tourists because of its natural beauty, will also be shown and contrasted with videos highlighting the widespread devastation caused by the floods when some of the 44 rivers flowing through the state overtopped.

Call Dr Jaiveloo on 07845458792 to obtain tickets for the event.

A young man who undergoes surgery every two months has thanked hospital staff for looking after him.

Mitchell Carroll was just two when he was diagnosed with the disorder which causes warts to grow on his voice box.

Now 20, Mitchell travels from his home in Bransholme to Castle Hill Hospital’s Day Surgery (Daisy) Unit to undergo surgery to trim the growths every six to eight weeks.

He said: “Every time I go in, the staff make me feel so welcome. They’re just so lovely.

“It might not be great because I have to go there for an operation but they’re definitely great people.”

Mitchell has Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis, a rare disorder causing small, wart-like growths to form in his respiratory tract. It can also cause hoarseness, a chronic cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing and problems swallowing.

Although the growths known as papillomas are benign, they can cause severe obstruction of the airways and respiratory complications unless they are removed.

When he was first diagnosed, Mitchell went to the Day Surgery Unit at Hull Royal Infirmary to have the growths trimmed to help relieve some of the obstruction in his airways.

However, since the age of 15, Mitchell has attended the Day Surgery Unit at Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham every six to eight weeks to have the procedure carried out under general anaesthetic.

He said: “I’ve gotten to know the staff really well because I go so often.

“I usually get to the unit as soon as the doors open and get seen as quickly as possible to get my paperwork done.

“I go under general anaesthetic but the procedure takes between 30 minutes and an hour. Because I’ve been going there that long, I can come round from the anaesthetic pretty quickly and then I go into the discharge room.

“I’m only there to make sure I can swallow properly and then I’m discharged.

“It’s really simple for me and the staff know me really well now. I just want to thank them for what they do for me and say keep doing what you’re doing.”

Staff nurse Kimi Gordon, who works on the unit, said: “Mitchell, or Mitch as he’s known to us, is such a character and he’s been coming to us for a long time.

“He knows the routine so well he could do everything for us and he’s really popular with all the staff in the unit.

“It’s always great to see him and we’d like to thank him for the nice things he’s said about us.”

Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust and Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust are teaming up to ensure people in mental health crisis are supported as much as those facing physical health emergencies this winter.

Posters and social media platforms will be used to highlight the different services in the community, saving people the anxiety of travelling to the Emergency Department at Hull Royal Infirmary.

From talking therapies to the Crisis Pad in Hull, people facing the spectrum of mental health problems will be able to access contact details for the service which best suits their needs.

Posters will also be issued to schools, youth clubs and children’s centres to publicise the services available to young people through Humber’s CAMHS.

Michele Moran, Chief Executive of Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Looking after your mental health and wellbeing is important all year round and this year, we have done a lot of work around encouraging people to open up and talk about their feelings.

“While this is all well and good, this winter we really want to give people clear guidance on how to nurture their mental health as well as signpost to some of the services available to East Riding and Hull residents.

“It’s absolutely vital that we tell people when they should seek help and what options are there to support someone in distress.”

Chris Long, Chief Executive of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “While the festive season is a special time for many, it can also be a difficult time for others and we need to make sure people in distress can access the right services at the right time.

“We work very closely with Humber that support is there for people in communities as well as if they come to hospital.

“People who come to A&E with mental health emergencies can will be seen by Mental Health Liaison staff who work round the clock, every day of the week, to help people who might be struggling at this time of year.

“However, there are also services in the community and closer to home for people which might be better suited to their needs and could mean they get the help they need by professionals more quickly.”