Meanwhile ...

A & E services at the hospital where Kezia was first diagnosed with leukaemia are being axed and replaced with an "urgent care centre". What I imagine Dr Crippen would term "dumbing down".

A local couple, with a son who suffers from severe convulsions and frequently has to be rushed there, requested a judicial review on the basis of a legally-flawed public consultation. This has just been rejected at London's High Court. The couple are now considering moving house to be nearer to an A & E Department.

We well remember going down there on the Sunday we arrived and quickly being referred by A & E to the Specialist Registrar in Paediatrics.

Meanwhile ... it is revealed that the North West Strategic Health Authority underspent by £161 million last year. The local MP commented "The money was intended to be spent on health services in the North West, not sit in the bank. The Pennine Acute Trust [which manages this A & E Dept] is cutting nearly 10 per cent of its beds with the loss of services to the community. I question why we should be making these cuts when the surplus retained by the Strategic Health Authority would more than meet the deficits of the Pennine Acute and other trusts in the North West."

A total of 221 beds will be cut across the Trust’s four hospitals. I would have thought this would imply some job cuts which would further help it cut its deficit. However, the Trust has assured its staff and the unions that this won't happen - just redeployments.

Meanwhile ... at this same hospital the Trust, which earned £1,533,496 last year from staff car parking, is increasing the car parking fee from £10 to £14 per month. I guess to help meet its deficits ... or to maintain its earnings when its staff are redeployed elsewhere or when it does start the job cuts.