The unsung heroes of the NHS at the heart of the pandemic

During the Covid-19 crisis there's a key part of hospital teams looking after patients but few of us even know they exist.

Operating Department Practitioners or ODPs for short are using their skills in airway management and patient ventilation to look after critically ill patients in surgery and intensive care.

The College of Operating Department Practitioners is celebrating its 75th anniversary. There are 14, 000 ODPs compared to more than 600, 000 nurses in the NHS.

Francesca Worthington an ODP at Blackpool Victoria Hospital NHS Trust Credit: ITV Granada

The University of Boltonis the first in the country to offer a degree apprenticeship, providing on the job experience in the region's hospitals.

Heather Darwen is an ODP working in Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and also a lecturer on the apprenticeship programme.

When she graduated, Heather said she 'knew it would be a challenge describing her role', when her own father congratulated her on being an 'OPD' - the acronym for 'Outpatients Department'.

The University of Bolton offering the first degree apprenticeship as an ODP Credit: ITV Granada

Neal Ashurst has been an ODP for 17 years and works at the Royal Bolton Hospital NHS Trust and says they are a 'bit like the SAS of the NHS, they come along, do what we need to do and disappear again'.

There's a National ODP Day, on 14 May two days after International Nurses Day to celebrate their care of patients.