Perhaps not surprisingly, the housekeepers at Southlands Hospital in Shoreham didn't like last Tuesday's Argus report on ceanliness.
We reported how a Government inspection team had attacked cleanliness at four Sussex hospitals, including theirs, and told how all four were accused of failing to show an improvement on cleanliness since their previous inspections.
"How dare you?" ask the Shoreham cleaners. "A lot of us have worked at Southlands for almost 25 years and it has always been known as the most clean and friendly hospital in the South - and still is, despite a lack of staff. At present, we are ten short in the evening and, although every effort has been made to recruit more staff, nobody seems to want a job in the evenings."
They go on to claim: "The Government survey you referred to was based on the condition of the hospital, ie decor and maintenance, which has been on hold awaiting confirmation that Southlands would not be closing. In the past few months new flooring has gone down and decorating has started.
"So before you judge us, get your facts right. Southlands is clean!" That's pretty clear then - WE need to clean up OUR act.
A sentiment that Dr Stewart Domoney, of Ditchling Road, Brighton, would probably agree with as he accuses us of tabloid sensationalism in our report on Tuesday about measures to protect children from paedophile priests recommended by the former bishop of Arundel and Brighton, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, now Archbishop of Westminster.
Dr Domoney says more than a quarter of the report was devoted to repeating detail of a case where the Cardinal had admitted he made a wrong decision and apologised. At the time of the case, 25 years ago, child protection law and practice, particularly in sexual abuse cases, were in their infancy (his choice of word, not mine).
"You did exactly the same last year when reporting His Eminence's appointment as Archbishop of Westminster when . . . it was totally irrelevant."
I pray forgiveness, doctor, but we have not sinned. Not only was the case strictly relevant to the Cardinal's recommendations this week but also a part of the biographical background to his appointment. Just because he has apologised for his decision to appoint to chaplaincy a priest whose behaviour he was warned about doesn't mean it should be forgotten. That would be unfair on the victims of the chaplain's nine sex attacks for which he was jailed. Oops, sorry, I've gone and done it again.
Finally, a comment from Donald Liston, of Horsham, who said he was "far from impressed" with our recent Lifestyle supplement because it appeared to cite Hollywood actor Dudley Moore as an example of how short people were fitter than taller ones. "Is The Argus unaware that Dudley Moore has been seriously ill for more than a year with a terminal disease?" he asks.
Of course we are not, Donald. We used little Dud - admittedly probably unwisely in the circumstances - as merely an example of a celebrity small person, not as someone who is a picture of health. After all, we also used portly smallman Danny De Vito and Geri Halliwell, whose recent slimming has prompted comment about her health.
I am intrigued, though, by Donald's other comment: "I also thought Lifestyle was almost entirely aimed at a female readership. Men are Argus readers too.
"Women already seem to monopolise articles on health and fashion."
He is probably right but what do other readers think? Write to let me know.
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