IF you're left shaking your head by the crisis facing student nurses at Worcester's new hospital, then imagine how they feel themselves.

They have six months to find places to live, after student accommodation was left out of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust's plans for the site.

Any time would have been a bad time to find out that, on £4,000 annual bursaries, you're expected to find and pay for private accommodation.

But the middle of exams wasn't the best moment, by a long chalk.

Little wonder that they feel ignored, neglected and desperate to know what's going on.

We imagine "how was this allowed to happen?" and "who's responsible?" won't be far behind in the list of questions they're asking. We'll all be interested to know the answers.

The fact that the situation appears to have taken the Trust - which has partial responsibility for providing living quarters - by surprise is among our biggest concerns.

It's also probably the greatest indictment among all the events which led to the predicament which the students are facing.

The Trust says it will do its "utmost" to solve the problem. It's better than nothing, but don't let that deflect any blame.

Now that the Royal College of Nursing and University College Worcester - where the students are educated - are involved, we trust that there'll be good news soon.

It needs to happen, and quickly, not simply for the 20 nurses affected at present, but for those who might be thinking of Worcester as a place to start their career as well.

'Oversight' is too kind a word for the occurrence. 'Gaffe' is probably the least offensive way to describe it.

What's most disagreeable, though, is the fact that - on the evidence the Evening News has seen - no one has thought about apologising for leaving the victims in the lurch. What a pity.