A Jewish surgeon is at the forefront of a NHS initiative to boost relations between medical staff and members of the public

Each week the NHS hands over its Twitter account to an employee to run – this week Jeremy Crane, a consultant transplant and vascular surgeon, is in charge.

Mr Crane, who is based in the Imperial College campus in Hammersmith and St Mary’s Hospital in west London, said this type of communication with the public was “definitely the future”.

He said he wanted to use the week to increase public awareness – especially in relation to transplants – and make the NHS seem “more approachable”.

Mr Crane, who is from Prestwich in Manchester but now lives in Hendon and is a member of Finchley Federation Synagogue, has also been giving members of the public a glimpse into his typical working day, tweeting videos and pictures of patients.

“It’s been really positive – I’ve had great feedback already and people are getting really engaged.

“We’ve been discussing transplants and getting on the organ donor list – so in terms of raising awareness it’s been great. Giving transplantation more exposure is really important.

“This is 100 per cent the future. It’s good to get people on the ground to interact quickly with the public, rather than letting the politicians do it.

“It’s a privilege to do this job and I really want to get that across.”

A little intro to the @ImperialNHS transplant surgical team. There are 5 surgeons, here I am with one of them, @frank_dor pic.twitter.com/N7KNEObLRG

— @NHS / Jeremy (@NHS) August 21, 2017

Mr Crane, 44, a Manchester United fan who has worked for the NHS for 20 years, said one of his highlights of the week was when former footballer Phil Neville ‘liked’ one of his messages.

It read: “Two Manchester boys (oncology colleague Jon) -having a 'nutritious' hospital canteen lunch... talking medicine, science & @ManUtd of course!”

The surgeon invited JC readers with questions on the NHS to get in touch through Twitter or Facebook, adding that he aims to reply personally to every message sent.

Last week it was the turn of another Jewish medic Dr Ilan Ben-Zion, a clinical psychologist based in Hertfordshire,