Patricia Raynor was a much-loved and well-respected nurse and midwife who worked at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

She first trained as a nurse at the age of 18 but during her training met husband Paul and returned to nursing at the age of 39 after raising her family.

Over the next five years she completed her State Enrolled Nurse, State Registered Nurse and midwifery qualifications and started work as a staff nurse at Huddersfield Special Care Baby Unit in 1986 before retiring in 1999.

Colleague Bernie Hopkinson – speaking on behalf of her former colleagues – said: “Pat was a lady in the true sense of the word. She soon realised that her role was helping the families of sick babies and she quickly progressed to become a member of our staff on the special care baby unit.

“She had a confident, no-nonsense but caring approach which helped families prepare for the transition from hospital to home. She worked in all areas of the unit where her ability to support and empathise with families shone through. Pat instilled calm and confidence even in the most stressful of situations. She had a remarkable ability to put names to faces even years after they had been on the unit.

“As a work colleague Pat was a superb member of the team – reliable, flexible, funny and supportive to colleagues. She will always be remembered as the genuine, warm person that she was and it was a pleasure to work with her.”

Pat, 76, who lived in Waterloo, leaves three children, Janette, Andrea and Nigel and four grandsons Thomas, Daniel, Ben and Luke. A collection at her funeral at Huddersfield Crematorium raised money for Kirkwood Hospice and the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.