IN the last eight years, I have spent many weeks in the Royal Bolton Hospital. The loving care you receive from the doctors and nurses seems to be half the battle for you, they treat you like loving sons and daughters.

I don't fear hospital when I am ill, I feel a great relief when I am taken into their care.

The only drawback these days are the visitors.

They come in and out any time of day, go off for an hour then come back with their lunch sandwiches and sit and have their meal by the bed, then off again for a while, then back with more visitors.

Some are smartly dressed, some in casuals, and some like tramps.

The worst times are weekends. I know they want to see and support their loved ones, but an hour is a long time for a sick person to be the centre of conversation in a weak condition. It drains your energy.

I have seen the relief on their faces when their visitors leave, usually about 8.30pm to 9pm.

Gone are the days when you could lie in tranquil silence recovering from your ordeal with just the soft tread of a nurse stopping by your bed to check on you. Let us all pause for a while, and just wonder where the MRSA germs are coming from.

Oh to go back to the days when visiting time was limited, when visitors and patients looked forward to that wonderful hour!

Betty Crompton

Chilham Street

Bolton