Theatre in the Rough Festival

THE Theatre in the Rough Festival, which is a festival of new playwriting for young people aged 13 to 18 from across Sefton, is currently accepting open submissions for this year's festival, which takes place at the Southport Arts Centre and The Brindley in May 2009. This is a great opportunity for young people from across the borough to write creatively for the stage, and to make their voices heard in a way not usually available to them.

"The Theatre in the Rough Festival is funded by Express Sefton and Awards for All and is open to all writers aged between 13  and 18, living in Sefton. Scripts should be no longer than 15 minutes in length. Plays should somehow be connected with some aspect of Sefton. Writers may work in groups if they wish. We're looking for exciting, edgy, original plays, written in the true voices of the borough's young people. Selected plays will be performed by a professional cast at the Southport  Arts Centre in May." said Chris Fittock, Artistic and Literary Director.

Plays should be emailed to:- info@theatreintherough.com by Monday, 13 April 2009. Full details and some playwriting tips are
available on our website:- www.theatreintherough.com.

HARBOUR TRAFFIC CONTINUES TO HOLD UP

WITH air traffic figures showing a decline of 15%, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company is pleased with the February harbour traffic figures, which show a 6% increase in foot passengers and a 1.2% increase in vehicles when compared with February 2008. This increase has been achieved in spite of the fact that February 2008 was longer due to last year being a leap year.  At a time when the global economic climate is continuing to create testing trading conditions for many businesses, the Company is encouraged by the February figures which build on the increases seen in January 2009.  Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Chief Executive, Mark Woodward said:- "I am encouraged by the latest harbour figures which show that passengers are continuing to take advantage of our very competitive fares. Economic conditions remain difficult and we expect to see a year on year reduction in passenger numbers next month given that the important Easter period falls in April this year, as opposed to March last year."

New Electric Beds Arrive Throughout The Trust

NEARLY 400 of the current beds at both Ormskirk & District General Hospital and Southport & Formby District General Hospital are being replaced with electric beds that the patients can operate themselves.  This is being done to promote patient comfort and independence, when appropriate, through the use of a simple hand set and to help reduce staff manual handling problems.

All the new beds allow for more flexibility of positioning due the special modification of the mattress platform and mattress, which guarantees maximum patient comfort in all positions and can contribute to the prevention of pressure sores in the pelvic area.

The new beds offer optimum protection against a fall as the longer bed side rails provide the patient with maximum protection but do not restrict the patient's movement on the bed.  Not only are they more comfortable for the patients, they are easier to manoeuvre for the nurses and porters and they will help to maintain our control of infection as they are more streamlined, which makes the bed's maintenance and surface cleaning very easy.

One of the first patients to get a new bed was Mrs Christine Bromley from Skelmersdale, who was a patient at Ormskirk Hospital.   "It is really comfortable and it is great to be able to position the headrest exactly where I want it when I want it.   It gives me independence and saves me having to ask the nurses to move the head rest for me."

As Mrs Bromley is a care worker at Arranmore Park Care Home in Burscough and she commented that:- I know how hard it is to move patients in bed, so I'm sure the nurses will really appreciate these new beds as it will make their job a lot easier."

Liz Yates, Director of Nursing said:- "These new beds are beneficial to both patients and staff and I am delighted with their arrival.

The new beds will be installed across the Trust over the coming few weeks, so all patients and nurses will see and feel a difference very soon."