NHS entrants. Great expectations.

The plethora of tabloid newspaper stories slating penny-pinching managers and the glut of television soaps featuring over-worked nurses and exhausted junior doctors portray life in the NHS as far from glamorous. But it seems that once you have been bitten by the NHS bug nothing can put you off. The lure of large salaries, expense accounts and company cars apparently counts for nought when offered the prospect of a 72-hour working week and a significantly reduced income. The opportunity to 'do some good' and 'make a difference' is very obviously a strong motivating factor for many people considering a career in the NHS and there is no shortage of those who are keen to play their part. These are the stories of just some of those people.