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18/10/2007
Ex-Brookside Star Slams NHS Bureaucrats
An NHS midwife with a difference has been unable to find work in the health service.
Ulster-born former Brookside star and model, who dramatically quit her £100,000 a year acting job to retrain as a midwife, has hit out at the lack of job opportunities available.
Lesley Crawford, (nee Johnston), the 25-year-old who played bad girl Laura Burns in the Channel 4 drama, worked in a nursing home for a year for the minimum wage of around £5 an hour while attending college to complete an access course before her midwifery degree.
But despite qualifying as a midwife last month, Lesley, who lives in Liverpool with her husband Joe, has been unable to find work.
The ex-actress says there are plenty of jobs for bureaucrats, but not enough for nurses and midwives.
Speaking to the Sun she said: "My class all achieved high grades but out of 25 graduates, only three have been offered jobs.
"The other 22 haven't even had a sniff of one. How many other students at other universities are in the same situation?
"Being a midwife is something I've wanted to do since I was little. I remember going to ante-natal appointments with my mum when she was pregnant with my brother and thinking that the lovely lady had a lovely job."
Lesley was only 18 when she was snapped up for the role of Laura in Hollyoaks. She enjoyed the lifestyle and salary that went with the position, but in 2002 decided she was fed up with acting and wanted to pursue her dream career.
"Since Christmas I have only seen one job advertised in this area. With the high demand from student midwives, I didn't even get short-listed.
"There are some jobs further from home, but doing a 14-hour shift and then having to drive three hours to get there and back is just not workable."
She called on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to invest more money in the NHS.
"The Government need to get off their backsides and divert NHS money to the areas that need it. Women are not getting the service they should and midwives are not being given the chance to provide it."
(BMcC)
Ulster-born former Brookside star and model, who dramatically quit her £100,000 a year acting job to retrain as a midwife, has hit out at the lack of job opportunities available.
Lesley Crawford, (nee Johnston), the 25-year-old who played bad girl Laura Burns in the Channel 4 drama, worked in a nursing home for a year for the minimum wage of around £5 an hour while attending college to complete an access course before her midwifery degree.
But despite qualifying as a midwife last month, Lesley, who lives in Liverpool with her husband Joe, has been unable to find work.
The ex-actress says there are plenty of jobs for bureaucrats, but not enough for nurses and midwives.
Speaking to the Sun she said: "My class all achieved high grades but out of 25 graduates, only three have been offered jobs.
"The other 22 haven't even had a sniff of one. How many other students at other universities are in the same situation?
"Being a midwife is something I've wanted to do since I was little. I remember going to ante-natal appointments with my mum when she was pregnant with my brother and thinking that the lovely lady had a lovely job."
Lesley was only 18 when she was snapped up for the role of Laura in Hollyoaks. She enjoyed the lifestyle and salary that went with the position, but in 2002 decided she was fed up with acting and wanted to pursue her dream career.
"Since Christmas I have only seen one job advertised in this area. With the high demand from student midwives, I didn't even get short-listed.
"There are some jobs further from home, but doing a 14-hour shift and then having to drive three hours to get there and back is just not workable."
She called on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to invest more money in the NHS.
"The Government need to get off their backsides and divert NHS money to the areas that need it. Women are not getting the service they should and midwives are not being given the chance to provide it."
(BMcC)
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