This week is National Nurses' Week. To mark the occasion Oxford Mail health reporter Victoria Owen takes a look behind the scenes of a city operating theatre and discovers there's a lot more to nursing than meets the eye . . .

Hospital theatres are more appropriately named than anyone could imagine.

The surgeon and patient may be the main characters, but much of the work is done behind the scenes.

Theatre nurses are the stagehands and, without them, the production would not take place.

During National Nurses' Week, this week, they have set up a campaign to promote their very important work.

Caroline Hemshall works in the plastic surgery department at the Radcliffe Infirmary. She is one of around 200 working within the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, at Oxford's Radcliffe Infirmary, John Radcliffe and Churchill, and The Horton, Banbury.

She said: "It's a very interesting, challenging job. We spend our time caring for patients who are not in a position to look after themselves.

"Very often they can't say whether they are comfortable or not and it's up to us to make sure their needs are met all the time."

Television drama often does theatre nurses such as Mrs Hemshall an injustice and many people arrive for an operation unaware that they will play a part at all.

But they soon realise that, while the surgeon is working to ensure their future health, the nursing staff is caring for their immediate welfare.

Mrs Hemshall said: "In all honesty, most patients are very apprehensive about coming in to theatre, but one of our skills is to reassure them. They appreciate that we are there just for them."

Unlike other fields of nursing, theatre nurses work very closely with doctors, in an intense atmosphere. The departments are also labour-intensive, with at least three nurses present at every operation.

A scrub nurse looks after instruments and surgeons, while a runner backs them up. The anaesthetist will also have assistance from a nurse.

Each one in attendance has specialist training and a wide range of skills, to help them care for patients, from the time they are welcomed into the theatre suite until they are back on the wards.

Mrs Hemshall added: "I have to have people skills - to look after both my patient and the surgeons, and management skills. I have to make sure the theatre is set up for the best access for the surgeon, and make sure it is best for the patient.

"A lot of patients come back to us for repeat operations and they recognise us when they come in. They find it very nice to see someone they know and that's very satisfying."