At last Britons get a fair chance to become doctors
JEREMY HUNT’S plan to train more homegrown doctors is precisely what the NHS needs.
More Britons will get the chance to train as doctors
While we must be grateful for the contribution that migrants make to the running of our health service it is neither fair nor sustainable to expect people from overseas to make up for a chronic shortfall of staff.
When we take in doctors from poorer countries it leaves their homelands desperately short of skilled medical staff.
It also creates serious financial problems for their home governments which will have spent a fortune subsidising their training.
Jeremy Hunt has introduced the plan to train homegrown doctors
Meanwhile in this country more than half of those applying to medical schools are being turned away.
Lazily relying on overseas staff has meant not enough has been done to create opportunities for bright British schoolleavers who want to become doctors.
Denying them a rewarding career because it is cheap and easy to hire migrants is a disgrace.
Then there are the most important people to consider – the patients.
We must be grateful for the contribution of migrants to the NHS
Too many have suffered because migrant doctors have made mistakes as a result of inadequate training or poor English.
A service properly staffed by British doctors will help to cut out these issues.
Mr Hunt has made some controversial decisions but this is one that everybody should be able to support.
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A school has banned children from running in the playground
Let kids play outdoors
WE can all remember being told not to run in the corridors during our schooldays.
For Hillfort Primary School in Cornwall though this rule does not go far enough.
Headteacher Tim Cook has taken the extraordinary step of banning children from running in the playground.
In the midst of an obesity crisis it is surely better to have a few scraped knees than a school full of inactive children.
It is not good for their waistlines to spend lunchtime sitting around and nor is it good for their concentration – boys and girls at that age need to burn off energy if they are not to spend all afternoon fidgeting.
These idiotic rules are creating a coddled generation terrified of everything and with no spirit of adventure. We should be encouraging them to climb trees, ride bikes and run around outside – not the opposite.
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Georgia Stone followed in her great-grandfather’s footsteps by climbing into a Lancaster bomber
Keeping memories alive
GEORGIA STONE has followed in her great-grandfather’s footsteps by climbing into a Lancaster bomber.
The 10-year-old has also been part of a choir raising funds to complete the International Bomber Command Memorial in Lincoln.
With youngsters taking such interest in the past, veterans can be reassured that their sacrifice will never be forgotten.