OFFERING bribes, shedding tears and queueing through the night was no guarantee of success for the 600 people who tried to register for 300 NHS places offered by a new dental surgery in Carmarthen, West Wales. “Three quarters of my mouth is now gums,” one desperate patient told The Daily Telegraph (July 30). Heather Davies, the practice manager, said that some people were offering bribes of several hundreds pounds. “But there was nothing we could do for them.”
While fillings are falling out in Wales, a flagship NHS heart hospital in London is standing idle because doctors refer patients to their private practices instead, says the Daily Mail (August 1). Managers are also fearful of sending bypass patients to the £27 million London Heart Hospital because their own trusts will miss out financially.
The Daily Mail (July 30) is also angry about other under-used institutions — two primary schools in Bristol, which plan to send children home early to give stressed teachers more free time. Parents trying to juggle their own work-life balance condemned the idea as “ludicrous”.
Teachers are also getting stressed over Kylie Minogue’s bottom. The Guardian (July 30) reports that Jim O’Neill, of the Professional Association of Teachers, condemned the chart-topper for her skimpy outfits , saying that they encouraged young children to dress inappropriately. In many Kylie videos, “you see more of her bottom than you hear her voice”, grumbled Mr O’Neill.