General (General discussion, talk about anything.)
Owd Codger
The decision to close Billinge hospital was two fold. It had nothing to do with the quality of nursing care.
Although the two very bad experiences my wife had there would suggest that nursing care was a problem at times.
The Blair government choice agenda allowed expectant mothers to decide which hospital they wished to use to have their babies. The immediate result was that many on the Leigh side of Wigan opted for Bolton and on the other side St. Helens was the choice. In addition the Royal College of Midwives condemned the building because of the need to close the special care baby unit in periods of very cold weather. The hospital was in effect redundant. Whelley hospital suffered the same fate.
The benefit of being classed as a teaching hospital is that it can attract very high quality consultants because it gives them an opportunity to enhance their status and earnings.
Replied: 22nd Jun 2022 at 15:29