Bedside Bibles are back in hospital just in time for Easter.

This month has seen the return of bedside Bibles to the wards at Macclesfield District General Hospital.

Bibles, which have been a familiar sight in patient's bedside lockers since 1949, were removed from hospitals across the UK during the Covid pandemic due to infection control risks.

Now, thanks to the Christian organisation Good News for Everyone, they are being reintroduced.

Wendy Moss, a qualified nurse and chair of the Cheshire North branch of Good News for Everyone, said: "Most people know us as Gideons, but a few years ago we changed our name in the UK to 'Good News for Everyone.

"But we're the same people, doing the same work, just with a different name. 

"I first started work here in 1978 and now I manage newborn hearing screening.

"There have been many changes at the hospital since then, but throughout that time the presence of the Gideon Bible was always a constant comfort and reassurance for many patients, until their removal during Covid."

Wendy, a licenced Lay Minister with the Anglican Church, continued: "We now have permission from Infection Control to distribute 'shrink-wrapped' testaments, which can be unwrapped and used by the patients, then taken home, or wiped over easily if unused, before being returned to the locker for the next patient's use.

"We're really very grateful to East Cheshire NHS Trust for all the help and support they've given us in achieving this, and from this month we'll be distributing the new Bible's a ward at a time. 

"It was sad, but completely understandable, when they were removed from patient's lockers during Covid, so it's wonderful to be able to begin reintroducing them in time for Easter."