Monthly Archives: April 2014

Medical Team Working On Patient In Emergency Room By Adrian Rutherford – 02 April 2014 Almost £200,000 a day is being spent on temporary workers to plug the gaps in Northern Ireland’s under-staffed health system. Spending on agency staff is expected to top £70m this year, having soared by 60% over the last four years. In some cases nurses costing as much as £87 an hour were brought in to cover chronic staff shortages. It comes as an investigation by this newspaper reveals how tens of millions of pounds have been spent paying for staff from agencies. Since April 2010 temporary staff have cost the health service more than £214m. The figure for the last nine months alone is £53m – equivalent to a staggering £194,000 a day. Critics have accused health chiefs of “squandering” money on temporary workers, and claimed recruiting more full-time staff would provide much better value. … Continue reading →

Since April 2010 temporary staff have cost the health service more than £214m. BY ADRIAN RUTHERFORD – 02 April 2014 Almost £200,000 a day is being spent on temporary workers to plug the gaps in Northern Ireland’s under-staffed health system. Spending on agency staff is expected to top £70m this year, having soared by 60% over the last four years. In some cases nurses costing as much as £87 an hour were brought in to cover chronic staff shortages. It comes as an investigation by this newspaper reveals how tens of millions of pounds have been spent paying for staff from agencies. Since April 2010 temporary staff have cost the health service more than £214m. The figure for the last nine months alone is £53m — equivalent to a staggering £194,000 a day. Critics have accused health chiefs of “squandering” money on temporary workers, and claimed recruiting more full-time staff … Continue reading →

Crowds of up to 100 people were involved in disorder that started at around 8.40pm in the Knockdhu Park and Ferris Avenue areas of the Co Antrim town. Police who arrived at the scene were attacked and one officer required hospital treatment to a head injury. A family of five were inside one of the homes on Ferris Avenue when it was targeted. Its windows were smashed and damage was caused to the interior. A mother and her two sons living nearby also had their home and car both badly damaged. Police had made two arrests in the area on the previous afternoon following a fight involving five men. On Sunday several people were also assaulted at the scene- a man living at a property on Knockdhu Park was left seriously injured and was taken to hospital – where he remains in a stable condition. The police have confirmed his … Continue reading →

Forensic experts glimpsed through the smashed window of a car as they comb the scene in Larne’s Ferris Avenue for evidence BY CHRIS KILPATRICK – 01 April 2014 Up to 100 masked and armed UDA men laid siege on a housing estate after two brothers stood up to the terror gang. The huge mob, many wielding baseball bats and sledgehammers, descended on Larne on Sunday evening and set about destroying three properties in the town. Attempts were made to set fire to at least one of the houses while the occupants were inside. Two houses in the Ferris Avenue area, where two brothers lived, were gutted. Dozens of masked men smashed their way into the properties. A 15-year-old girl in one of the houses was chased upstairs. Sources said an altercation involving five men in Larne on Saturday afternoon – which left three hospitalised – was connected to Sunday’s attacks. … Continue reading →