Lead story

Mid Staffs scandal: Blame staff cuts Not nurses

by Daphne Liddle

HEALTH Secretary Jeremy Hunt last week delivered his response to the Francis Inquiry into the reasons for the shocking failings at the Mid Staff NHS Trust by focussing on the failings of nurses and managers rather than the shortages of staff due to budgetary cuts and the culture of putting targets above patient welfare.

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Editorial

Another crash coming

THE BANKING crisis in Cyprus is the first chink of a new round of big bank crises within western capitalism. The blatant seizure of depositors’ savings has sent big savers all round the world into a state of extreme nervousness. They know that the Cypriot bank is not the only bank in dire trouble. Most western banks are still seriously under-capitalised. They keep up their shiny facades but behind there is very little in the way of resources and a sudden loss of confidence by savers, who may want to withdraw their money and put it under the mattress or invest it in something more solid like gold, land or art treasures, will see these banks crashing like dominoes.

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