THERE are nearly 4,500 nurses working at Nottingham's hospitals.
And the dedicated staff at the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital can walk up to four miles on each of their 12-hour shifts.
To recognise the efforts of the city's nurses, senior staff from Nottingham University Hospitals visited wards across the Queen's Medical Centre on Sunday – thanking nurses personally and delivering cakes with "thank you" iced on top.
Jenny Leggott, director of nursing and midwifery with the trust, said: "We should be rightly proud of the nurses we have here in Nottingham.
"We have a very good relationship with the university, who provide the education for our nurses, and we have excellent mentoring for our nurses.
"The majority of our nurses actually live here in the area and they care for relatives of their colleagues. They work very hard and give exceptional care."
Dr Stephen Fowlie, medical director with the trust, said: "There is a link between the fact that staff tell us this is a good hospital to work in and the fact that we recognise the contribution each member of the team makes to patient care. Nurses are central to that."
There are 87 wards at Nottingham's hospitals, with an average of 32 nurses working on each ward.
And staff work in more than 50 specialties at the QMC, City Hospital and Ropewalk House – everything from renal, children's, spines, cardiology, stroke and urology to maternity and major trauma.