Staff in Ireland’s first nursing development unit have been experimenting with aromatherapy to help patients sleep. Graham Cannard reports

The first nursing development unit (NDU) in the Republic of Ireland was set up in 1993 at the General Hospital, Tullamore. The need for a NDU was identified in 1990 when it was realised that the needs of patients, clients, relatives and nurses were changing faster than nursing practice and that the hospital’s nursing development programme needed to be formalised in order to be able to meet those needs. This meant either developing current practices or introducing new ones.