A GREAT grandfather who suffered a cardiac arrest while returning his wife's heart monitor to Kidderminster Hospital has paid tribute to the volunteer who saved his life.

Ronald Radford, aged 87, was in the cardiology outpatients department in March, returning his wife Audrey's heart monitor, when he collapsed.

Mr Radford, from Kidderminster, had already suffered four heart attacks and was in cardiac arrest when hospital volunteer Margaret Borkowski rushed to his aid.

Margaret, who has been volunteering at Kidderminster Hospital for nearly three years since retiring from her job as a day care centre manager, cleared space for the clinical teams to move in and cared for the remaining patients in the waiting area while staff treated Mr Radford.

She said: "I just acted on instinct and tried to provide some privacy for Mr Radford and give the team the space to work in and try to remove other patients from what could have been a distressing situation.

"The team were truly excellent in how they responded and how they all came together to save his life. What I did to help was nothing compared to the work of the medical professionals.”

Following his ordeal, Mr Radford spent two days in the coronary care unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, before being discharged and returning home.

Just one week later he was back on his feet and went to visit the team at Kidderminster to say thank you to staff.

He said: "I am very grateful to the whole team. Without them I wouldn’t be here today.

"It was lovely to go and give the staff a hug and say thank you. Some of them had even come to visit me when I was in Worcester, just to check on how I was doing which was a lovely touch. I was so grateful.”

Arrhythmia nurse specialist Nicki Brewster said: “We are so pleased that Mr Radford has made a full recovery.

"The way Margaret supported Mr Radford was above and beyond her volunteer duties. She remained extremely calm and also cared for the remaining patients in the waiting area.

“On behalf of the cardiology department across the Trust we want to thank Margaret for all of her help whilst volunteering and for her caring nature on this day.

"She played a vital role in saving Mr Radford’s life and she is an asset to our team.”