IN THE day-to-day grind, East Lancashire's health service workers must sometimes feel unappreciated as they cope with the never-ending struggle of matching finite resources to ever-increasing patient demand.

But today we see how dedicated and determined they are.

In the hospitals, ambulance services and community health service right across our region, they come out with glowing results in the national NHS league tables.

And these are not dry and hollow statistics, for, in reality, they measure by how much people in need endure less pain, discomfort or anxiety through getting the best possible service in the quickest time.

All that has been achieved against stiff odds that patient demand puts on the NHS and its workers.

Praise and thanks, then, are due to them for this five-star effort.

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