IT’S been a week of ups and downs - mostly downs - for the Royal Cornwall Hospital which has been close to breaking point.

On Friday the RCHT was asking people to collect discharged patients as quickly as possible as the hospital simply had no beds for admissions.

Then yesterday the junior doctors quite rightly went on strike. Despite scaremongering by Jeremy Hunt and certain sections of the press, the hospital even managed to continue with many outpatient services. 

Meanwhile the overworked, underpaid trainees who are its future stood up for their right to be fairly compensated for unsocial hours, or given enough rest to allow them to properly treat us and our loved ones in our times of greatest need.

Oddly, the hospital’s consultants and juniors on emergency care seemed to manage just fine for the short period of the strike.

Let’s just hope that Mr Hunt, instead of patronisingly chivvying the BMA back to the negotiating table, can offer doctors what they need and avert further action.

On a happier note, at least some money has been spent at Treliske, as funding was announced for an upgraded maternity unit.