Britain shoots the messenger

You are not supposed to tell it like it is in Britain. But if you are a peer of the realm, you are in a better position than most to do so

A Conservative peer who branded nurses "grubby, drunken and promiscuous" during a debate in the House of Lords faced a rebuke from David Cameron and fury from nursing leaders and ministers yesterday....

The row developed after Lord Mancroft claimed it was "a miracle" that he was still alive after his experience of filthy wards and "slipshod and lazy" nurses when he was admitted to the Royal United Hospital in Bath. He alleged that nurses chatted to one another about their sex lives and alcohol intake in front of patients, some of whom they regarded simply as "a nuisance". "The nurses who looked after me were mostly grubby - we are talking about dirty fingernails and hair - and were slipshod and lazy. Worst of all, they were drunken and promiscuous," he said.

"How do I know that? Because if you're a patient and you're lying in a bed, and you're being nursed from either side, they talk across you as if you're not there. So I know exactly what they got up to the night before, and how much they drank, and I know exactly what they were planning to do the next night, and I can tell you, it's pretty horrifying." The nurses were "an accurate reflection of many young women in Britain today", the peer claimed.

But, as the furore over his remarks mounted, it emerged that it was not the first time Lord Mancroft had criticised the health service. The peer was treated successfully for heroin addiction in the United States. In a Lords debate in 1991 he accused the NHS of being the "biggest supplier of addictive drugs in the world".

Lord Mancroft, chairman of the Addiction Recovery Foundation, was reported in The Times at the time as saying that his life had been governed for years by an addiction to heroin, cocaine, alcohol and pills. His family had searched everywhere for the help he needed. Eventually he was treated successfuly in Minnesota. Later, he suggested that the Health Department send a team to America to study methods of treatment.

Lord Mancroft, who went to Eton and is a member of Pratt's Club in St James's, London, told peers on Thursday night that he owed his life to the fact that his wife had "kidnapped" him from the Royal United Hospital and took him to a hospital in London where standards were higher. The Tory peer did not name the hospital involved, but the RCN said it had identified it and was in contact with the NHS trust responsible to discuss his allegations.

Peter Carter, the RCN general secretary and chief executive, said: "These comments are extremely unhelpful and grossly unfair on nurses across the UK, who work extremely hard to provide patients with the highest standards of care. "Where poor nursing exists, it should always be challenged through the proper channels. [The British just LOVE "proper channels". That way everything can be hushed up]

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British doctor shortage

In another triumph of socialist "planning", Britain has plenty of medical school graduates but no places in hospitals to allow them to complete their training!

Hospital trusts are looking abroad as they struggle to find locum doctors for emergency shifts. Leaked documents from the NHS and Department of Health reveal a national shortage, raising concerns over cancelled operations and poor patient care. Controversial changes in the training process for junior doctors have created a shortfall of qualified candidates for temporary vacancies.

Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust, Surrey, said that it was advertising in Polish medical journal for accident and emergency doctors, the Health Service Journal reports. The department said that "the problem has been circulating anecdotally for some time. We do take it seriously." It was talking to the NHS and others about potential solutions.

Under the Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) reforms introduced last year, experienced doctors can leave posts at any time but trainees can replace them only every August.

A leaked e-mail to regional health authorities from Steve Buggle, the MMC project leader for recruitment, said that "some trusts may be experiencing problems in finding locums". Vicky Osgood, of Severn and Wessex deanery of the NHS, replied that the problem was extensive. "We are having increasing difficulty filling any and all vacancies and locum requests."

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