An announcement was made yesterday by leading nurses about a new campaign to build a culture of compassionate care in the NHS. I first heard this news on the radio as I drove to the Whittington hospital in north London, where my 20-month-old son Lennie is being cared for in the paediatric ward. Lennie has cancer, a solid tumour in his skull, which has left him blind. He is in his 11th month of treatment, and although he is still very sick, we are hoping that he is on the road to recovery.

Compassion, commitment and communication were the buzz words on Radio 4's breakfast programme. These three words describe perfectly the qualities demonstrated by the nurses, doctors, care assistants, pharmacists, dietitians, social workers, play specialists, hospital managers, cleaners, physiotherapists, psychologists, respite carers, ophthalmologists, radiologists and everyone else connected with Lennie's care. I don't have adequate words to praise the people who have helped Lennie get better and who will continue to support him for many, many years to come.

The report talked about building caring values, as well as technical skills. I cannot imagine that anyone who chooses to train as a nurse does not start out with core values of compassion and commitment. It is possible that people lose those values, but I think that might be because they don't feel valued themselves. The nurses we have met do at least four 13-hour shifts a week, days and nights, and on each shift they are expected to look after five or six patients and their families. All of these families think (understandably) that their sick child is the most important child in the world and needs to be seen now.

As well as caring for the sick children, the nurses have to look after the worried parents, chase after the harried doctors, answer the ever-ringing phones, keep up to date with the endless paperwork and clean up all sorts of revolting bodily fluids. It is an incredibly difficult job, for which they are not adequately remunerated or praised. I don't know how they remain calm, caring and kind, when they are often on the receiving end of anger and abuse, but they do.

Sometimes (rarely) things go wrong (Report, 3 December): patients are neglected or mistakes made. It's sad when this happens and it needs to be addressed. But I cannot see how painting such a negative picture of NHS staff is going to help them to become more compassionate. Surely we need to celebrate these extraordinary people who work so hard, and thank them for the compassion and commitment they give to the patients in their care.

With this in mind, I would like to thank the following people for the amazing care they have given to Lennie and our family in the last year: Olga, Wendy, Marie, Richard, Liz, Heather, Angela, Cristian, Kate, Ailish, Carly, Leah, Renate, Nic, Laura, Lee, Hayley, Paula, Simon, Martine, Yen, Becks, Rhiannon, Tiff, Joanna, Marcia, Ali, Naomi, Mark, Ruby, Stacey, Camilla, Jan, Sonal, Rachel, Andrew, Catrin, Adama, Peggy, Sophie, Ruth, Miriam, Darren, Maddy, Jackie, Nicky, Christine, Alison, Lorna, Hannah, Eleanor, Eva, Sarah, Becky, Tammy, Rita, Francis, Stefan, Sheila, Jo, Joe, Venita, Jane, Ros, Frankie, Chloe, Gopa, Yanique and all the other wonderful people working at Great Ormond Street and the Whittington who have helped Lennie and so many children like him.

Katherine Anderton

London