Claiming that improved efficiency at the hospital has reduced the amount of time patients need to stay and cut overnight admissions, the managers plan to get rid of this 'problem' by getting rid of the beds, as well as fifty staff who attend them.

Hospital trust chief executive Peter Herring said all permanent staff would be redeployed to other positions.

"Detailed discussions on proposals for dealing with the staff displaced by the closures will be held with the relevant staff organisations during the coming weeks," he said.

"As appropriate, the trust will offer a voluntary severance scheme and early retirement options to avoid compulsory redundancies if at all possible."

The trust said it will still have capacity to deal with people arriving at the hospital's emergency unit and there would be no reduction in services.

In a sane world, having spare beds and workers in the health service would be welcomed, as each worker would have less to do! In the market-run National Wealth Service of the new millennium, profit must always come before people.