STAFF at three Merseyside hospitals marked Nurses’ Day yesterday by receiving a thank-you card from the most famous nurse of all – Florence Nightingale.

Aintree Hospital Trust volunteer Ruth Sturgeon played the part of The Lady With The Lamp, whose most famous contribution to nursing came during the Crimean War.

Accompanied by volunteers in Crimean War nurse uniforms, Ruth visited wards at Fazakerley hospital and the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery yesterday.

They then travelled by horse and carriage to meet nurses on the Walton hospital site, in Rice Lane.

Terry Owen, the trust’s volunteer placement manager, said: “Our volunteers were delighted to take part in this event and to thank the nurses for all the hard work they put in on a daily basis.”

Karen Dawber, Director of Nursing at the Walton Centre, added: “Our nursing staff are exceptional people.”

Florence Nightingale was an advocate of sanitary conditions in hospitals and led pioneering work during the Victorian era after her stint in the Crimea.