MY friend, Mia, died from lung cancer in Colchester General Hospital. I miss her.

Mia loved the outdoors and found being in hospital oppressive.

In the last days before she died, she insisted, despite her illness, on going outside so she could feel the sun and wind on her face, so she could breathe fresh air.

Those last moments outside were so precious to Mia. I think of her still when I feel the warm wind on a summer's night.

Bev Pickett understands how Mia felt.

She is the end of life facilitator at Colchester General Hospital.

It could be considered a strange calling for a nurse.

Simplistically, medics' raison d'etre is to administer to the sick and help make them better. Bev was a nurse on the Rhys Lewis ward at Essex County Hospital for 13 years including being its ward sister.

But sometimes, it is not possible to make people better. Death is an unerring, if uncomfortable, fact of life.

Last year 1,700 patients died at Colchester General Hospital. Bev's job is to try to ensure their deaths are the best they can be.

As part of her work, she is leading a project to create a time garden at Colchester General Hospital.

The garden will have pavilion where patients can go to spend time with their family and friends in the last days of their lives.

It will be a sanctuary, away from noise and bustle of the busy hospital.

It will be a room free of medical equipment whose constant beeping is an enduring affirmation of illness.

Outside, there will be a tranquil garden where patients can sit with their family and friends, even their pets, and enjoy a moment of normality.

First, Bev needs to raise £160,000.

She said: "Sadly, there are patients who we are treating who will not get better.

"We want to support them in the best possible way.

"Hospitals are busy places and it is sometimes hard for patients to have peace and quiet.

"Even side rooms can be too small for all the family to go in and they are full of medical equipment.

"This project is about patients' experiences, the softer side of caring for them which is just as important."

When Bev was working at Essex County Hospital, she had a patient who was too ill to attend his daughter's wedding. So the staff got him into his suit and organised for him to see it, and be seen, via Skype.

"We want to get something of that ethos here," said Bev, "in a space which is not clinical.

"We want them to be able to go somewhere quiet and peaceful where they can feel the air on their face, where they can enjoy the sunlight."

Bev, along with others, visited another hospital which had been praised for the way it supported patients at the end of their lives.

Their provision included a garden and Bev returned to Colchester to find a place where she could emulate the project.

She found a small courtyard behind the emergency assessment unit and the radiotherapy centre.

A walkway goes from the main hospital to a car park behind but is not too busy.

Bev said: "Our plan is to have a lodge where the patient and their family can go on their own.

"It will be big enough for two beds. We have had situations where we have had a husband and wife who were inpatients at the hospital.

"One of them was dying. We could bring both beds to the lodge to allow them to spend time together. It could be the last time they are alone together."

She added: "The doors will open out on to the garden and there will be a separate access to the garden so it can be used for another family.

"It will be screened off from the rest of the hospital so it will be peaceful and private.

"It will have a gate at the end so pets could be brought in. Pets matter to people.

"It will also be better for when children come to visit.

"Children are children and can like to be noisy. A hospital is not a good environment for that."

Money will not be forthcoming from the NHS; its funds are needed for clinical care.

Bev has already received some backing for the project. The Colchester League of Hospital and Community Friends has donated £15,000 to the cause.

World famous horticulturalist Beth Chatto has already offered her support and her team will help to plant out the garden.

The project also has support from the East of England Co-op and Colchester Institute is to challenge its students to create art work for the garden and lodge.

Money has also been raised through the Starlight Walk and Bev has a quiz night organised.

She said: "We are hoping we might also become a bit of a DIY SOS project where firms might offer materials or labour to help.

"Perhaps there is a scaffolding or concreting firm who could assist us."

Bev is passionate about the project.

"This is an acute hospital and the medical teams want to cure their patients but with some there come a point where they can't.

"I want to make that final part of life the best experience it can be."

I think Mia would have loved it.

  •  A quiz night is being held at Stanway Village Hall on October 7 in support of the Time Garden appeal. Anyone wanting more information can email Bev on beverley.pickett@colchesterhospital.nhs.uk.

For more information on the Time Garden, click here.