In fact it's far worse than nursing 'Cardex', care plans and the like wasting nursing time while patients (many of whom don't stare in anguish at a tantalising regenerated meal, many of them plainly refuse to eat, out of exhaustion with illness frailty and dementia) starve in their beds. I, a doctor (who did get an interview) need FedEx to handle patient's notes, 75% of which is nursing care plans - as germane to medicine as the old testament. A frequent flyer with my Trust can have 4 volumes of notes.

malcolm morris, london,

When i asked my late father why he wasnt eating he said he could not lift his arms up , the nursing staff said that he must try . How long can you survive without getting food to your mouth. This was the sort of treatment reserved for a gallant old soldier.

robert appleby, dewsbury, uk

I have to agree with Mr Honeyball and I am a nurse. When I did my training in the mid 60's our first priority was to the patients dietary and toiletry needs. these days this seems to have gone out of the window. I have not worked on a Ward for almost 30years now but on the occasions that I have had to go on to the wards I have seen, as Mr Honeyball states, the nurses all congregated around the Nurses Station or off having a quick coffee whilst meals were being served.

True, we have employed Auxiliary nurses to take a some of the pressure from the trained staff but I have often seen that even they think that it is beneath them to feed or wash a patient. When I began my training in 1967 the Matron gave us all a 'pep talk' in which she said that the day we felt we could not give a patient a bedpan, was the day we could stop calling ourselves nurses. I have carried those words with me to this day. I became a nurse to care for people, not to sit at a computer.

Kathy Haq, Sunderland, UK