alexist

I just read this story on another forum I'm on and it really made me shake my head.

One of the women there is pregnant, and is supposed to deliver in Carlisle. She found out that the hospital will not give epidurals unless you require intervention (forceps, ventouse, C-section) because they don't have enough anaesthetists. If she wants an epidural, she needs to deliver in Newcastle or Lancaster (the next nearest hospital, Hexham, has the same policy). That's bad enough. What was even worse was the midwife's attitude. The woman asked, well, what if things are really horrible? The midwife says, "oh, it won't be, I've only seen about 5 women who could have used one". Well, what did they do? "They just got on with it." Well, THAT'S really consoling to a first time mother who's nervous as it is.

Of course, it comes down to money: they can't pay enough anaesthetists, so they have to ration care. Great system, isn't it?

We went to see it this afternoon at the completely-jammed Finchley Vue (all showings sold out, massive queue to get in, the adverts had started running when they let us take our seats...) It was completely ludicrous but very entertaining. They did try to jam in as many set pieces as possible, regardless of whether it adds to the plot or not.

Still, I enjoyed it and I'm not a particular fan of Bond, or of big-budget action movies.