This article is courtesy of Josefa Fernandez Alcaraz and Marilyn Starbuck.
Josefa Fernandez Alcaraz came to England in 1954 and learned nursing at the Three Counties Hospital. She studied and worked hard and eventually received her nursing certification. Josefa worked in the Female wards and lived in the women's dormitory on the second floor. She remembered there was a phone in the hallway, and bathrooms at each end. She also remembered the murder of nurse Veronica Ryan by Lyndon Nott in May 1958. She was working the night shift at the time of the murder.

After her shifts had finished, she had to walk through the cemetery to get back to her dormitory. Understandably, she found this very scary. Her boyfriend was naturally worried about her, and came to walk her back to her quarters whenever he could. It was a fearful and worrying time for the nurses and they tried never to walk in the grounds alone. The girls were afraid of being the next victim. Some nurses would walk to the store of bicycles and use those, but after the murder Josefa would only take the bus to go shopping as nurse Veronica Ryan had been attacked while on her bicycle.
There were some Italian girls that worked in the hospital kitchen, and Josefa got on very well with them and often enjoyed going out with them on shopping trips. Many times Josefa would be alone on the night shift in the wards. Her desk sat in the hallway. She remembered that she would always hear crying from the rooms.
There was a large room with many beds where many of the women slept. One time Josefa fell asleep at her desk, and a patient came up to her and got hold of her around the neck with a pair of stockings. The patient was bigger than she was (Josefa is only about 5' 1") and the patient tied her up and locked her in a room. The patient told her that she liked her and so wouldn't kill her. The patient was caught the next day.
There were young girl patients in the women's ward too. Josefa felt particularly sorry for them, and would separate them from the grown women and take them for walks. She would bring them much loved treats from the kitchen when she could. There was one girl that she, and soon the rest of the staff, began to suspect wasn't insane. They felt she had been framed for her mother's murder by her own father. An investigation began but Josefa left in 1959 before it concluded.
Josefa remembers the young girl crying for her mother, and being so lonely and sad all the time. She was only about twelve years old.
Josefa loved working at Three Counties Hospital, “It was the most rewarding and interesting work I could imagine, It was a beautiful place with dedicated staff."