A PATIENT waiting for a lifesaving liver transplant has called on people to keep showing respect to NHS even though the weekly clap has finished.

Former health and safety officer Tracey Boyd is a patient at Great Western Hospital as she waits for the surgery that will save her life.

But because of coronavirus, fewer than 100 transplants were carried out nationally in April – the lowest in three decades. The 53-year-old needs one within eight weeks.

She worked at the Swindon hospital for eight years before leaving last year after cirrhosis caused her health to decline.

Tracey has now been on the transplant waiting list for 11 months.

She is only asking one thing for people to do and that’s to stop the abuse towards NHS staff.

“I want to highlight the fact that nurses and doctors get a huge amount of abuse on a daily basis,” she said.

“It would be nice to use the positivity that’s around at the moment to use that and to remember what health workers have done for everyone during this time. I don’t want people to forget and staff at the hospital have to face abuse again.”

Staff working for Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust logged 171 abuse reports in 2016/17, up from 87 in 2007/8.

“It’s all types of abuse that they get," said Tracey. "It can be verbal, physical and sometimes sexual and racist. I think people should show them respect.

“It may be a little far-fetched to expect it to never happen again but I think people should try to treat them better.”

Tracey said the NHS staff helping her have been extremely supportive since she was diagnosed, so she wants to help support them too.

She said: “It’s a small team but they have been really supportive of me. It’s difficult to talk about my condition because I get emotional, but they love to spend time with me and we just talk and let off some steam, which is really therapeutic.

The country has been showing support for staff in the health sector with a weekly Clap for Carers.

It was started up by Annemarie Plas as a one-off display of support, but it soon caught on as every Thursday at 8pm people would stand outside their doors and clap or bang pots. But as it reached its 10th week the founder suggested it should come to an end before it lost its meaning.

Today will be the first Thursday Annemarie won’t be standing at her doorstep and making some noise for the NHS.

Tracey believes actions speak louder than words when it comes to the government.

She said: “It is great people were doing this but I didn’t go out and clap because the government have underfunded the NHS for the last 15 years.

“Doctors and nurses work their butts off, even more so now, their dedication is amazing. They deserve better. We need to show our appreciation in other ways than clapping.”

Tracey explained how she came to need a transplant.

“I went on holiday in Borneo and when I came back I got some routine blood tests which led to me being tested positive for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease five years ago,” she said.

“I’ve been on the decline for the past couple of years and the only cure is a liver transplant. If I don’t get it soon then I’ll get to the point where I’m too sick to even have the surgery.

“It’s been very upsetting for me and my whole family. I don’t think people realise how stressful it is waiting for that call, you’re glued to your phone waiting for them to tell you that an organ is available.”

Her condition has affected her balance, speech and cognition.