It had been a busy day - running from A to B and back again dealing with some rather unwell patients, so a call to an elderly lady with a cut leg was going to be a nice change of pace.

We'd been told that she had fallen on the bus, but was now at her home. As we pulled up we could see one of the council's buses parked outside, they are used to take the vulnerably elderly to day centres and the like. The pavement was soaked in soapy water.

The driver of the bus met me, he looked a little worried as he showed me to our patient. She was sitting in a chair, her leg was raised and although the bus driver and his mate had used a towel to try and stop the bleeding her leg was still leaking a fair amount. Still it was a fairly simple job - bandage up her leg and run her drive her into hospital where they could properly clean and close the wound.

All throughout my treatment of her, the patient was more concerned with making sure that the bus workers didn't get into any trouble. She was a little bit... 'dotty', which her neighbour assured us was normal for her. She wasn't worried about her leg, nor really about the amount of blood that she had lost (not a huge amount, but it looked like a lot), all she was worried about was the bus crew.

For their part the bus crew had done a lot of good, especially given the fear that a lot of council workers have of being sued when acting outside their 'protocols'. They had made her comfortable, had given her some effective first aid and had cleaned up the pavement and her garden path. They had even brought her shopping in and put the frozen things in the freezer. Given what a lot of other workers would have done, they had acted above and beyond their duties.

And all they were concerned about was that the patient got better.

It's so refreshing to come across some care-workers who actually care, unfortunately it is rarer than I would like.