A WOMAN who spent 20 years helping sick and injured patients at a hospital has decided to hang up her boots.

Sheila Brand, 82, originally from Ilford, spent years handing out lunches to patients on trolleys in the A and E department of Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone.

But after recently moving to Whetstone in Barnet she made the difficult decision to say goodbye to the team because of the distance from home.

Ms Brand said: “Being with the patients is what I have loved - having a laugh, a joke.

“I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t love it.

“It would take me over two hours and two buses to get to the hospital and so I thought I had to be realistic about if I could manage that.

“All good things come to an end.”

Last week, Sheila was awarded with a plaque from the volunteering team at Barts Health NHS Trust.

Nancy Whiskin, head of volunteering at Whipps Cross Hospital, said: “Sheila is a wonderful, kind and compassionate person and an absolute asset to the volunteer’s team.

"Her contribution to A&E has been invaluable and she will be greatly missed.”