I READ the article in the Thursday, May 19, paper about a lady who spent a night in police custody after Green Lane Hospital ‘refused to take her’.

I just think it’s very important that people think of the other side of the story. It came across like it was Green Lane’s fault as there were no beds due to not enough staff.

Do people think the hospital should be able to magic up staff from thin air? Or maybe run the ward with the incorrect staff to patient ratio? This would of course put patients’ lives at risk and overwork the staff, also leaving the staff too busy to spend any quality time with the patients.

It is not Green Lane’s fault that the Government don’t give a big enough budget for mental health, but bed problems are an issue around the country, not just in Wiltshire.

If you really think about it the lady who had to go in a cell could have got some one to take her to A&E to see a mental health team as an alternative to calling the police.

And also, although it was unfortunate that she wasn’t very well, she was deemed fit to go home the following day, so didn’t really need to be admitted to hospital.

As someone who has been in Green Lane, along with other psychiatric hospitals, I think it’s extremely important that people are aware of the large amount of caring, compassionate staff working on the ward, who come into work and do their best to help the patients before going home at the end of the day.

Yes, there are shortfalls but what health care setting, particularly NHS settings on strict budgets, don’t have shortfalls and are run perfectly with a 100 per cent perfect staff team? I can’t think of any!

In an ideal world there would be a bed for every person who wasn’t well but this isn’t an ideal world and never will be. The hosp,ital tries to help people and keep them safe and get them well enough to leave.

KATIE JONES, Chippenham