Last night Dispatches ran a story entitled, ‘Confessions of a Nurse’. The programme was based the findings from a YouGov survey of Nurses and MidWives working in the NHS.

Below are some of the findings:

• Almost half (53 per cent) say they have seen colleagues perform medical tasks that they are not qualified to do
• Over a third (37 per cent) think that patient care in the NHS has become worse in the past five years
• Half (51 per cent) of all the nurses and midwives interviewed say that they are exhausted most of the time
• 70 per cent say understaffing prevents them from doing their jobs properly
• 42 per cent of nurses and midwives interviewed say they have either been in or witnessed situations where patients have been put in unnecessary danger

Last week I came across statistics released by the UK immigration minister, detailing approved Tier 2 work permit applications from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2008.

To say I was amazed would be an understatement:

…………………….2007        2008       Total
Doctor                905         905         1,810
Polo Groom    1,025      1,590      2,615

I’m not entirely sure what a ‘Polo Groom’ does. I did Google it and found various job advertisements which has given me a general idea, and 2,050 Google results.

To put that into perspective ‘Doctor’ generated 232 million.

So in the coming weeks and months when you’re at Windsor, Epsom or Gaynes Park you can rest assured UK immigration are doing a great job of looking after the horses.