Burke then started to impose himself with a series of lengthy, raking touch-finders, one of which led to his first penalty of the evening.Rees, not to be outdone, was also doing likewise and he cut through the visiting defence with a sparkling thrust which led to his third penalty to keep Bridgend in touch. But Bridgend were too predictable in midfield and too reliant on the short, sharp pass down the middle whereas Quins, via Burke, varied the focal point of attack, mixing the direct route with the search for open spaces. On the half-hour, Quins wheeled a midfield scrum to their advantage, nullifying the back-row defence and enabling the scrum-half Scott Bemand to spring and jink clear before sending the supporting flanker Tu Tamarua over at the posts. Burke converted and landed a penalty a few minutes later.The Bridgend skipper and former Quin Huw Harries raised the stakes in the opening minutes of the second half with an expertly placed and awkwardly bouncing box kick which escaped the clutches of the home defence and ended in the grateful arms of his full-back Adrian Durston who crossed for their first try.Tamarua fed ravenously off the charging runs of Garrick Morgan and Wood, and his half-break gave Burke his third penalty. The result was sealed on the hour when a driving maul from a line-out disrupted the home defence and the ball was spun quickly left to the waiting Dan Luger, who finished in style for Burke to maintain his 100 per cent kicking record.Bridgend's best moment was a case of too little too late as the Lions winger Dafydd James, again under-used on the left wing, cut through from the blind side with a scorching run that left the Quins grasping shadows. Rees converted to give some respectability to the scoreline.Bridgend 24 Harlequins 30Tries: Durston, James Tries: Luger, Burke, TamaruaCon: Rees Cons: Burke 3Pens: Rees 4 Pens: Burke 3Half-time: 9-20 Attendance: 4,500Bridgend: A Durston; G Jones, G Thomas, J Funnell (J Devereux, 67), D James; C Rees, H Harries (capt; J Hewlett, 67); C Loader, G Williams, C Noon, P Clapham (K Stewart, 60), C Stephens, M Molitika (N Budgett, 60), J Ringer, R Bryan.Harlequins: M Mapletoft; M Moore, N Greenstock, C Bell, D Luger; P Burke, S Bemand; B Starr (J Leonard, 55), K Wood, A Olver, G Morgan (Captain), S White-Cooper, R Winters, T Tamarua (P Sanderson, 75), T Diprose.Referee: J Dume (France)..
Tony Blair promised to deliver first-rate public services and the Government awarded hospitals one, two or three stars last week to show how they are performing But 12 were judged so poor they received no stars at all. We went to see the conditions in one of them, the Medway Maritime hospital near Rochester in Kent. Tony Blair promised to deliver first-rate public services and the Government awarded hospitals one, two or three stars last week to show how they are performing But 12 were judged so poor they received no stars at all. We went to see the conditions in one of them, the Medway Maritime hospital near Rochester in Kent. Staff nurse Michelle Reddington works in one of the worst hospitals in the country. Or so the Government would have us believe.By rights Medway's inadequacies should be obvious to the eye – a picture of shabbiness and chaotic overcrowding But I came away with a startlingly different impression. With its bright, airy wards, well-equipped specialist units and curious absence of trolley tailbacks in corridors, it appeared every bit the model of a forward-thinking 21st century hospital.Medway even claims to have sufficient beds, nurses and doctors, despite the national shortage Perhaps this is why staff nurse Reddington is so indignant "It feels horrible," she says.
"You do everything you can for the patients and this is the kind of gratitude you get."Michelle has spent all five years of her working life at Medway and is now stationed in a special unit designed to ease the pressure on its accident and emergency department by prioritising patients.When Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, took his "snapshot" of Medway's performance, the hospital had yet to bring down the bulk of its waiting times for outpatient appointments to 13 weeks or less – a target issued in last year's NHS Plan. It had also missed a deadline for ensuring that all suspected breast cancer patients were seen by consultants within two weeks of being referred. In addition, its recent £70m redevelopment had left it with a mounting seven-figure overspend – another no-no in these cost-conscious times.But to the 23-year-old from nearby Gillingham, the picture is false for one simple reason: it is months out of date. Like many, she remembers when the hospital was a byword for crammed waiting rooms and prolonged winter bed crises.
