COMMENT: Going above and beyond is all in a day's work at QA

The 32-year-old from Havant attended the evening to celebrate those individuals who go above and beyond the call of duty at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham – only to discover to his complete surprise that he was indeed one of those outstanding individuals – having saved the life of a colleague.

Mr Dodd, who had worked as a porter at QA before becoming an emergency medical assistant a year ago, leapt into action and administered CPR when fellow worker Jose Amorim collapsed and went into cardiac arrest.

We automatically expect our health workers to do the job they are trained to do but for Craig not to realise he was at the awards ceremony because of his actions is admirable.

In his own words in response to the award he said: ‘What I did that day was an instant reaction. I didn’t have time to think after Jose collapsed, I just did it.

‘I had no idea about the award, I thought I was here just supporting the team.’

Medical staff go above and beyond the call of duty every time they arrive for a shift and they should be celebrated – as The News has recognised through its We Love QA campaign.

But while we expect nothing less from hospital staff, would we, as ordinary members of the public, know what to do if we were faced with the same situation as Mr Dodd.

Some of us might but the majority of us probably wouldn’t.

So perhaps as the new year approaches we should seriously consider looking into taking first aid lessons so that, should the need arise, we too would be ready to potentially help save a life.