WE read with interest the article about the Maypole Nursing Home at Hedge End.

Clearly, the QCC inspectors found causes of concern about nursing care in the home, which you highlighted in your report, but there is another side to the story which we would like people to know.

Our daughter Jane is severely handicapped and requires full-time nursing care. She has lived at the Maypole for seven years now.

It is her home and she is very happy there. She is visited several times a week.

What the inspectors may not have realised is the friendly and informal feel of the place. Visitors (not to mention their dogs) are made welcome and encouraged.

There is a lot of good humour and exchange of gossip between residents and staff, many of whom have worked for a long time at the home.

Outings for shopping and cinema are arranged and inhouse entertainments and activities are available on a regular basis.

A really attractive garden has been created in the ground-floor courtyard which residents and their visitors are free to use.

We agree that high nursing standards are essential in any nursing home and we are encouraged by the obvious efforts being made by the BUPA management and staff to address the inspectors’ concerns.

The Maypole staff should not feel discouraged, though.

They are doing most things right and if the Maypole were to close, it would leave our daughter and others like her without a home and very unhappy indeed.

Tom and Muriel MacKean, Titchfield