SWINDON Town has one more player to consider come Sunday after fine nursing at Great Western Hospital gave one of their team a swift return to health.

Nineteen-year-old midfielder John Swift took a turn for the worse in late April when he suffered food poisoning found himself bed-ridden with dehydration, headaches and a high temperature.

He ended up admitting himself to the hospital and was soon in the care of staff nurse Dan Jackson, who impressed the Chelsea loanee with his standard of care and assistance.

Yesterday, the Portsmouth-born teenager returned to the hospital, where he thanked Dan and his colleagues for getting him back on his feet.

There was even a special meet-and-greet opportunity for Swindon fan Dan and his Town-supporting children Martha, three, and Isabelle, four.

Dan, 32, of Florey Court, in Old Town, said there was no change in his approach, despite the fame of his patient, but he said he welcomed the acknowledgement of his care all the same.

“It didn’t really make any difference. I mentioned to him I was a fan and chatted to him about my kids, about how I’d recently taken them to their first game,” he said.

“It’s nice, really, just to get the recognition, because obviously he’s well-known.”

Despite the special thanks of Swift’s father at the time, Dan insists there was nothing different in the hard work he and his colleagues on Linnet ward always devote to their patients.

“He was feeling pretty grotty and not too well, but I tried to put him at ease and did what I could,” he said.

“That’s what I was most pleased about – using the fact he’s well-known to be able to put it out there we are doing a good job.

“It’s not just me, it’s our whole team. We all work really hard and I appreciate the acknowledgement he’s giving us.”

The England under-19 international said: “I didn’t know what was wrong. I thought it was a little bug I went in with, but I ended up having to get put on a drip.

“I was really dehydrated, my head was hurting, I had a high temperature and everything was going wrong really.”

As a result of the illness, Swift missed Town’s home draw with Walsall and its crucial trip to Preston North End, which ended in a 3-0 defeat.

“I have to be 100 per cent fit to play a game and I missed two because I wasn’t fit,” he said.

“I had to. I couldn’t. There was no way I was going to be able to play through it.”

As it is, with the care he received, Swift spent just one night in hospital with the illness and soon fought back to fitness in time for Town’s matches with Leyton Orient and Sheffield United this month.