From Brendan McDonald.
OUR bed, they say, is where we spent half of our lifetime. It’s a haven of rest where we throw our tired bodies after a hard day’s toil.

The hospital bed, however, is a different animal altogether and the one bed we don’t enjoy lying in, but sometimes circumstances dictate otherwise and we find ourselves being there getting treatment.

In my case it was Bartlett Ward at the General Hospital. I found myself in strange surroundings and at the height of a heatwave, not the most comfortable of circumstances even though my bed was one of the latest with a control button to set any position to make it comfortable.

It’s what we see from that bed that makes you realise what a first-class professional operation our hospital in Jersey is, due to the wonderful nursing staff who are doing a tremendous job under severe pressure.

You see the change over from the night staff to day staff which is a smooth operation as the night sister briefs her colleague on the condition of each patient and what medication is required for the healing process of the patient.

The day shift is a non-stop operation on the ward with nursing staff, male and female, giving their all taking blood pressure, changing dressings, washing patients’ limbs and changing beds in preparation for the doctors’ rounds.

It is pressure that most people could not handle but these dedicated people battle on and to the observer like me in bed the first thing that comes to mind is, why can’t they have more staff.

They are desperately short of help. To our politicians I would say that, during their summer break, they should take time out to spend a couple of days with the nursing staff at the hospital to see what real pressure is, then they will realise that to put a pay freeze on these people’s wages is nothing short of immoral.

I cannot finish this letter without giving a bouquet to the cleaning and catering staff whose cheerful approach, day in, day out, helps the recovery of anxious patients.