In-patient sleep disturbance: the views of staff and patients.

It is generally recognised that sleep is necessary for the maintenance of well-being and that the need for sleep increases with illness. The findings of a study on in-patient nights show that many do not believe they get sufficient sleep in hospital. Inadequate sleep may be because of discomfort worries and pain, or down to a variety of disturbances. The following paper proposes a number of approaches to tackling these issues.