"The warmth and sincerity of every single one of them was such a credit to them, the hospital and the profession"

My father was readmitted to Dr Grays last week with pneumonia and found himself once again on Ward 7. He deteriorated quite quickly and we were contacted on Friday night to say that he had taken a turn for the worse. Nursing staff were waiting for us and arranged for a Doctor to update us. They then did everything they could to make us comfortable for what they knew would be a traumatic night. It wasn't made easy by the fact that the room Dad was in, was under infection control -so coming and going with chairs/cups of tea etc was problematic. There wasn't a side room available so we stayed in the ward which wasn't ideal -as although the staff had made him comfortable Dads breathing was noisy and laboured and the other patients could have found it distressing. (as did we). But that couldn't be helped and the staff were without exception amazing. When they changed shifts, the new staff came and introduced themselves and checked if we needed anything.

After he passed away in the early hours, the staff were caring compassionate and so professional. They let us do exactly what we needed to do and accommodated all our needs. Then before we left they gave us space, pots of tea and cake.

I cannot praise the staff highly enough for making what was a dreadful time-just about bearable. The warmth and sincerity of every single one of them was such a credit to them, the hospital and the profession.

I know that this ward is a busy acute medical ward and seems to have a large amount of bank staff on a regular basis but they work as a tight efficient team.

Thank you ladies you are truly wonderful human beings.