Leanne says the unexpected offer to pay for her breakfast left her feeling “thoroughly uplifted and appreciated”.

“I was very surprised,” the 30-year-old tells HuffPost UK. “At first I declined her offer, not feeling worthy of her kindness, but the woman put her arm around me and insisted I accept.”

But this isn’t the first time the NHS staffer has witnessed the extent of the public’s support for what she and her colleagues do.

“I recently helped coordinate a transport hub to organise transporting staff to and from the hospital during the severe snowy weather,” she says. “Seeing a queue of 4x4s queued up outside the hospital, driven by volunteers giving freely their own time and petrol, was another of those moments I just had to stop for a moment and take stock of how incredibly important our NHS is to the British public.”

When Leanne asked the volunteers why they were helping out, “the resounding response was a desire to give something back to all the dedicated NHS staff”.

NHS worker's tale of random kindness goes viral