IT may be mid-winter, but sandals are the new fashion in the household of Sylvia Williams.

Sylvia, aged 73, tells in today’s Daily Echo of her joy at being given a new prosthetic foot – 45 years after losing toes to blood poisoning.

When Sylvia was young, the NHS did not provide much in the way of prosthetics. But now, she is able to walk without a stick, drive more comfortably and is even preparing to shop for red nail polish.

What a heartening tribute to our health service, whose staff should surely figure in any New Year’s Honours list.