Family health centre...

Ten members of the Bashir clan work for their local NHS trust, making them the largest group of relatives to be employed in the whole health service

- BY PAUL JEEVES

For the Bashir family, the weekly work roster at their local hospital reads less like a staff list and more like a family tree. That's because working for the NHS has proven to be more than just a vocation for sisters Meena and Razwana - it has become a full-blown family affair.

When the siblings began their nursing careers together at the turn of the millennium, they never imagined they were laying the foundation for a medical dynasty. Yet, over the last two decades, their passion for the NHS has been as contagious as many of the diseases they encounter on the job.

The sisters have been joined by eight relatives, meaning 10 members of the extended family are now walking the corridors of the same trust.

From the renal unit to physiotherapy, the Bashir clan is embedded in the fabric of Bradford's healthcare. And with a niece qualifying later this year and other relatives setting their sights on medical training this extraordinary commitment is becoming a generational legacy.

It is a unique achievement by any standard and is believed to make the Bashirs the UK's largest family unit working within the health service.

Despite being five years apart in age, clinical site matron Meena, 53, and younger sister renal matron Raz, 49, embarked on their careers at the same time when they enrolled on a nurse training course together at Bradford University in 2000.

Upon graduation three years later in 2003, they joined their local trust, which operates both the Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital, and both have gone on to enjoy stellar careers over the past two decades.