LIKE many others advancing in years, Amber the dog has trouble getting in and out of the car.

Mobility problems put the kindly canine's work visiting Alcester Hospital's day room under threat until patients, staff and the League of Friends donated a ramp to help her.

Amber's owner Coral Williams is unable to lift her dog out of the car and would have had to stop the visits if the ramp hadn't been donated.

"I just thought what a marvellous gesture this was and how caring people can be given a chance," she said.

"Even when you're elderly there are things you can do to make things easier for somebody else."

Amber, a golden retriever, has beeen visiting the hospital and residential care homes in the area for the past eight years through a charity called Pets As Therapy.

Founded in 1983, it provides thousands of theraputic visits by calm, friendly dogs and cats to hospitals, care homes and special needs schools every week.

Gaynor Edwards, day hospital co-ordinator, said all the patients would miss Amber if she didn't visit: "It gives them a topic of conversation and helps them remember happier times in their lives," she added.

For more information on PAT, visit www.petsastherapy.org