Around 90 NHS organisations are backing a campaign launched by a terminally-ill Huddersfield doctor, encouraging health workers to introduce themselves to patients.

Dr Kate Granger, a 34-year-old consultant, launched the “Hello, my name is...” campaign around two years ago while receiving treatment for cancer.

She said she made the “stark observation” that many staff “did not introduce themselves before delivering care”.

“This felt very wrong so, encouraged and supported by my husband, we decided to start a campaign to encourage and remind healthcare staff about the importance of introductions in the delivery of care,” Dr Granger wrote on her blog.

“I firmly believe it is not just about knowing someone’s name, but it runs much deeper. It is about making a human connection, beginning a therapeutic relationship and building trust.

“In my mind it is the first rung on the ladder to providing compassionate care.

“I really hope my legacy will be putting compassionate practice right at the heart of healthcare delivery every single day.”

She added: “The lack of introductions really made me feel like just a diseased body, not a person. When somebody did introduce themselves it just made a massive difference to how I felt.

“There is evidence out there that it actually improves patient outcomes, that if you have a good relationship with your healthcare staff you are more likely to trust them, you are more likely to share intimate information.”

Some 400,000 doctors, nurses, therapists, receptionists and porters across 90 organisations are now backing the drive.

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Wellhouse-born Dr Granger has just been appointed as acting consultant in elderly medicine at Pinderfields Hospital.

And she has achieved the milestone despite living with gruelling treatment and pain due to her rare cancer, as well as running fundraising efforts and launching a hugely successful campaign to improve care.

Dr Granger, who lives at East Ardsley, received the MBE in the New Year Honours for services to the NHS.

She created a blog charting her battle with cancer and has 30,000 followers on her twitter account. Dr Granger was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2011, aged just 29, when she was told the illness was terminal. She has carried on working and had a spell at Dewsbury District Hospital.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “This is an inspiring campaign. All patients should be treated with compassion and the fact this movement has started from within the NHS itself makes it all the more powerful.

“We know that doctors and nurses within the NHS are doing more than ever to provide safe and compassionate care and this movement is harnessing their energy.”