Nursing and other staff at King’s Mill Hospital received a surprise visit from generous members of the community and businesses, laden with cakes, balloons and fruit, to say thank you for the care and compassion provided.

The visit, planned, to mark International Nurses Day, saw grateful well-wishers tour the Sutton hospital’s wards with trolleys full of goodies as a token of appreciation for hard-working nurses.

Former nurse Nicki Raine, of Forest Town, arranged the visit, which was organised through NHS support group Ashfield Fighting For Our Hospital, local people and businesses.

They included Bun In The Oven cake makers, Mansfield; Morrisons and Forest Town Arena.

Nicki said: “On behalf of the community we wanted to take the opportunity to show the nurses and other staff at King’s Mill just how much we appreciate the amazing job they do 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

“I would like to thank the people who spent hours baking cakes, including my grandchildren who wanted to help the nurses that made them better.”

Jayne Revill, matron for urgent and emergency care at Sherwood Forest Hospitals, which runs King’s Mill, said: “It was a lovely gesture, and you could see how much it meant to our staff.

“People come in to nursing because we want to help people and provide good care, but when members of the community that we serve come together like this to say thank you it is touching.

“At times like this you notice what a difference good nursing can make to people’s lives.”