Leeds residents show support for NHS Big Thank You campaign

The messages of thanks started from December 6 2018 when NHS campaign The Big Thank You was launched.

The Big Thank You campaign, which was created with Leeds NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, aims to spread positivity across Leeds by encouraging the public to say thanks to someone who has helped them during winter.

So far, the people of Leeds have thanked everyone from NHS staff, friends and family to neighbours and work colleagues and even strangers.

Carla from Cross Gates thanked A&E staff for saving her son’s life following an accident involving a bus.

She wrote: “My son and I would like to say a massive thank you to Mr Sugarman, Mr Turner and Mr Kanakaris - those surgeons, their colleagues and all the staff in A&E were amazing throughout.

"We are forever in your debt. Words cannot express how grateful we are.”

Laura from Keighley thanked staff at Leeds General Infirmary. She wrote: “I want to say a Big Thank You to Mr Simpson and the maternity team for saving my life after a postpartum haemorrhage just over four-years ago.

"Myself and the family will always be so grateful and their amazing work will always be in my thoughts.”

Others took the opportunity to thank strangers for their random acts of kindness.

Chris from Hyde Park, Leeds, wrote: “A really big thank you to the lady at Kirkstall Bridge Shopping Park for finding my keys and using her detective skills to track me down and return them.

"Me and the kids would have been absolutely stuffed if I'd lost those keys.”

Members of the public can say their ‘Big Thank You’ online or by posting it through the Big Thank You post box making an appearance at local events and community centres across the city.

Since the campaign began in December last year, the post box has visited a number of locations including Kirkgate Market, Chapel Allerton and St James’ Hospitals, University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University.

Many of the 'Big Thank You’s' submitted are also currently being displayed on the big screen in Millennium Square widescreen.