We’re marking the national Dementia Action Week, from Monday 20 to Sunday 26 May, by encouraging you to follow in the footsteps of our staff and become Dementia Friends.

Several members of our team completed the recent London Marathon, so we thought we’d speak to one of them for this week’s In Conversation With interview.

Mike Exford, 29, has been at our Trust since 2013 working as a physiotherapist and found he really enjoyed supporting our patients who’d had amputations. Last year, he joined our Red 2 Green team, which works to make each day in hospital count for our patients so they can get home quicker.

This was his second London Marathon and both times he’s completed it, he’s raised money for a worthy cause close to his heart – this time for a horse riding charity which works with disabled people, and has helped his niece Ellamay, 13. Mike also started karate when he was six because he wanted to be a Power Ranger – and he’s even got a red Power Ranger morph suit in his wardrobe!

To mark the national Dying Matters Week, which runs from Monday 13 to Sunday 19 May, we’re holding Death Cafes at both our hospitals.

If you or someone close to you should become unwell over the Bank Holiday weekend, there are lots of options for you to get the care you need, saving you a long wait, so you can get back to enjoying your extra time off.

Ray Allen, 66, never forgot the great care he received from our staff at the then Oldchurch Hospital, returning over 20 years later to give a donation of £2,700.

Our deputy Divisional Manager for Anaesthetics, Lucy Gladman, had an interesting career route to the NHS – she wanted to be a lollipop lady by day and a pub singer by night! When she left school she went to interior design school but quickly decided that wasn’t for her, so after a foray into being a travel agent, she found her true calling in the NHS!

Sue Rogers, senior operating department practitioner. Working in our theatres was an interesting career choice for Sue, given that when she first started out she couldn’t stand the sight of blood!

We are entering an exciting time for our Trust - designing what our hospitals will look like in the years to come, so we can continue to provide high quality care for the people we serve.