Letter: Fire, fever and war

Sir: If morale is low among staff at St Bartholomew's Hospital, let them remember what their predecessors have endured during 800 years. There have been outbreaks of plague, two great Fires, three wars - one Civil and two on a world scale - and centuries during which all wounds were infected and the causes of typhoid, cholera, fevers and tuberculosis were unknown. Never has there been a time when nurses were not forthcoming to give service under circumstances of great danger.

I was a ward sister at Bart's during the Second World War and shall always remember young women nursing patients by the light of the burning City. If Bart's is closed, it will be the greatest loss to the ill, the old and the injured who live and work in the City.

I am,

Yours truly,

WINIFRED HECTOR

London, EC1

24 October