Thomas Lee

I’ve been working at Trafford for nearly 16 years now, from 2007.  My job title is a domestic assistant, working through Facilities.  Part of my job is to clean wards, departments, public areas and so on – public toilets, that sort of thing.  I go around, and I clean  every single carpet you see and each bay in the ward.  

I’m mostly on public areas, but my supervisors call me or see me in the morning to see if they need to put me anywhere else. If they need me to do anything else I’m quite happy to do it. 

I interact with patients and visitors – they often ask me to get where they need to go so I point them in the right direction. When I’m working on wards, the patients ask me things – like do I enjoy working here and stuff like that – they always ask me that!  

My grandma used to work at Trafford as well – she worked with the porters – she was a Porter supervisor. I think it was the 1970’s she started, and then she retired in 2014.  I worked here for seven years whilst my grandmother was still here. She always checked in on me to see if I was getting on alright, and if I was getting into it – I would always say, yes, I’m getting into it! She trained me up on a few things, like we had these floor polishers we used to use – I don’t use them anymore because someone else does that job. 

I’ve got this hoover which sits on your back, you have to strap it, and it’s got all back supports and stuff. The hoover can be very heavy, if you’ve not got it on properly, it does hurt your back.  It hurt mine a bit last week, because I was trying to get it on and it was all twisted, so I had to sort all of that out.  This hoover is corridor use only because you can’t use normal hoovers because they have cords, and you can’t have cords in a corridor because it’s a trip hazard. Even though you’ve got wet signs across the corridor, people still ignore them and end up falling over.  Anyway, the hoover is really heavy, but once you’ve got it on properly with all the back supports it’s not a problem. Every time I’m going around the corridor with it, people said ‘you look like a ghostbuster with it’ – so I stuck loads of ghostbuster stickers on the back of it, and they all seem to love it. It’s like a ghostbuster’s proton pack – they are square, mine is cylinder.  Nobody else uses this particular hoover.  

Today I’m cleaning in pre-op – today and tomorrow because I’m covering for someone, and the pre-op staff love it when I’m walking through. They always say to me ‘hey up Tom’s here with his ghostbuster’. They just love it, it makes their day. 

They always say to me ‘Who you gonna call?’ and I say ‘You’re gonna call me!’ 

I’ve been here a long time. I worked through Covid – it was tough, I just got on with it.  I’ve never had Covid – touch wood, and I don’t want it. I’ve seen what a bad illness it is.  

I’ve had loads of funny moments with staff, and loads of good moments. What’s different with the NHS  – the rate’s good.  I’ve always wanted to work in a hospital – my grandmother was here. And you’re doing different things rather than the same thing every day. You’re going to different places, you’re cleaning different areas – if I was working in a supermarket, I’d just be doing the same thing every time, which is not my sort of thing. I wanted to do a job where I could do different things – where I could work with staff members and as part of a team.

With Kim Moore 

I know the way from the train station
to the hospital

I know how to direct people
                                                                 to any department in the hospital.

I still don’t know my way to the canteen.

              I don’t know how to get to Uppermill

I know what poems sound like.

  I know every colour code we have
  to use in the hospital

I know how to touch type.

  I know red is for toilets
  green is for kitchens/ward pantries
  blue is for wards/ general areas
                                                   yellow is for isolated areas

I don’t know the names of all the catering staff yet

  I don’t know every door code
  in the hospital

I don’t know what that strange smell is

  I know that it’s new carpet

I know how to eat cake

  I know how to cook seafood linguine

I know how to eat seafood linguine

  I know how to service my own car.

Illustration: Georgia Appleby