Sir, - Following a recent accident, I have just spent time in both a regional and a Dublin hospital. Nothing brings home more forcibly the truth that none of us can do without nurses.
Far too many of those I spoke to - lovely, patient, cheerful lasses all - want out of nursing. And already wards are closing and waiting-lists remain unacceptable.
It seems crazy that hospitals which are losing their own nurses because of pay and status are now being forced to employ agency nurses (who have to be paid much more) to fill the worst of the gaps.
Nurses are highly qualified specialists who, thank God, have by and large still not lost the common touch. Mebh Ruane's article (Opinion, October 4th) says it all. They deserve more. - Yours, etc.,
Margrit Cruickshank, Auburn Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.