"What fantastic night staff! Doncaster ward 24 "

My 78 yr old father who has severe dementia was admitted to ward 24 at Doncaster from the assessment ward with severe chest problems.

If it wasn't for the dedication, compassion and commitment of the fantastic night staff (Sister Gina, the nurses, healthcare assistants and the doctor on call) I have no doubt my father would not be here now, they have truly saved his life.

I do believe though that if he had needed this level of nursing during daylight hours that he wouldn't be with us now. The reason that I say this isn't because the day staff are not equally as wonderful it's just a case that they have to spread themselves more thinly.

Surely when peoples lives are at stake money available to finance salaries of these fantastic people shouldn't even be an issue. All evidence that I have seen on this ward shows me that people that have dedicated their careers to saving lives and nursing the sick are having too much expected of them, they are not superhuman although sometimes I feel the powers that be percieve them to be.

So please NHS before you employ someone else to patrol the carpark to make sure people are not smoking in the grounds, or you spend money decorating offices that the public never set foot in, please remember why the NHS was founded and that the majority of the people that are being treated have paid into this system all their adult lives. So spend the money in where these people want it to go and where it is needed, employing those fantastic people who save lives.

And if by chance you are the person responsible for the direction of NHS funding and you happen to be reading this, imagine how you will feel (and it will happen one day to you as it will happen to us all) when you are laid as an elderly patient in a hospital bed, with a wet sheet or pad, your dignity already shattered and you are reduced to tears as there is no one available to help you, then where will you wish you had placed your priorities when you had the chance!