Two sisters raised more than £1,000 for staff on of the Cumberland Infirmary's wards to thank them for the care given to their late father.

Bianca and Georgia Collie raised £1,110 for staff on Beech B at the Carlisle hospital after staff there went above and beyond in caring for their dad Brian, who died in October last year.

The Carlisle family were given some final moments of quality time together by the ward staff, who put up a camp bed for the sisters at their dad's bedside.

"They were really kind and gentle with dad," said Bianca, 38.

"We know the NHS is under pressure but none of that came across.

"They were just really compassionate, they let us come and go whenever.

"There’s a lot of negativity surrounding the NHS at the moment, with all the talk of the pressures they're under.

"They’re overworked, yet they’re still providing an amazing service."

Brian, who died at the age of 77 on October 8, was at the Cumberland Infirmary originally for a routine endoscopy but quickly fell seriously ill.

Moved onto Beech B despite not being a specialist cancer ward, Bianca said her dad was placed on the ward out of necessity as it had some spare capacity.

With doctors unsure if he would be able to return home at all, Bianca and Georgia's visits to Beech B were understood to be their last chance to spend time with their dad.

Brian was on the ward for just over a week before eventually being able to make the journey back home for end-of-life care.

Brian died about a week after his return home.

Bianca described her dad as "loving the outdoors".

"He loved his walking," she said.

"He was full of knowledge. Just after he died, somebody said to me that ‘life interested him’, I thought that was nice way of describing what he was like."

To thank the Beech B staff for giving them some final moments with their dad, the following month Bianca and Georgia, along with two friends undertook a sponsored hike up Scafell Pike, along with a fundraising coffee morning the following day complete with a raffle.

"My dad was a beekeeper, so one of the prizes we raffled off was his honey," Bianca said.

"We were amazed by the amount we raised. We never thought we’d get that much."

The sisters presented the funds, along with a gift hamper, to the ward staff just before Christmas, to the delight of all those working on Beech B.

Anna Stabler, interim executive chief nurse for North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Cumberland Infirmary, said: “The trust is incredibly grateful to Bianca and Georgia for their very kind donation.

"Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England and we know this was not an easy challenge for them to undertake.

"They should be very proud of their achievements and we will make sure that the money they have raised will go towards helping support other patients like their father and families such as themselves.”