A man who suffered a severe back injury in a quad bike accident has praised the “very specially gifted” staff who nursed and cared for him at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Dave Ecclestone, 42, said that seeing dedicated and professional doctors and nurses at work under constant pressure during the eight days he was on the trauma ward, gave him a “life experience” that he will never forget.

The aerospace programme manager from Tamworth in Staffordshire was flown to the Royal Shrewsbury by air ambulance following the accident at the end of a family holiday at Tywyn, Mid Wales, last month.

Mr Ecclestone was transferred from A&E to Trauma Ward 28 for further treatment and observation. It was found that he had a vertebra compression fracture.

Mr Ecclestone said he was “flat on my back staring at the ceiling with only the steady stream of friendly faces of the ward staff appearing into view”.

He said: “I could hear the staff were extremely busy with other patients. However, they always made sure I was as comfortable as I could be, given my condition – feeding me, cleaning me and boosting my morale.”

Mr Ecclestone, who is now continuing to make a good recovery at home, said he could not believe the amount of work staff had to do or their long hours.

Nurses, he said, were on their feet for 12-hour shifts and doctors were putting in shifts of 30 plus hours.

They had to deal with a constant stream of patients and also punching and biting from patients suffering from dementia.

“I was shocked to experience this happening in front of my eyes but the nursing staff just kept on smiling and kept on administering the same high level of nursing care to all patients,” said Mr Ecclestone.

“I appreciate sometimes there is bad press associated with hospitals,” he said.

“But I have witnessed the dedication of the staff on Ward 28, and I can honestly say the staff are doing an extraordinary job to the best of their ability with the resources they have available at their disposal.”