[lettie]

We still can't staff the unit. Posts will probably be lost by not replacing people who have left. There is no money for extra staff just yet. Blackburn have taken on Burnley's debts when they merged to become East Lancs. As for women travelling to have babies, this only happens when the baby is premature and our special care unit is full. It's not an ideal situation but I would rather travel to another unit if there was a risk of me having a premature birth than deliver a prem where there is no cot or ventilator available to sustain it. The government is well aware of the situation but specialised nursing staff cannot be conjured from thin air. I don't blame our nurses for going to work abroad where pay and conditions are better. I've often thought about it myself.
The Ambulance situation is pitiful, mainly due to time wasters. I remember working in BRI A&E in 1990 and a man who had cut his finger on a tin can was admitted and had the audacity to call an ambulance to bring him to hospital where we stuck on a plaster, gave him a tetanus injection and sent him home. This kind of situation happens every day in hospitals throughout the UK. People who don't need to be seen in hospital turn up and therefore increase the waiting times for the people who do.