A protest has taken place against the planned overnight closure of Grantham hospital's accident and emergency unit.

United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust (ULHT) has said from Wednesday 17 August the department will only open from 09:00 to 18:30 daily.
The trust says it does not have enough doctors to staff the department safely and also maintain services in Lincoln and Boston.
Protesters claim the decision will put lives at risk, which the trust denies.
Charmaine Morgan, the Labour County Councillor for Grantham South, said she hoped the protest would make the trust rethink.
"This is one of the most serious situations the people of Grantham could face and is potentially life-threatening for some of our residents.
"This is a drastic change and it is not even only a night time closure but from the early evening."
The trust said the temporary closure at Grantham would enable to it maintain safe staffing levels at its two other A&E departments, both of which take a higher number of A&E patients.
Emergency departments at the hospital normally work based on having 15 consultants and 28 registrar or middle grade doctors.
However, it currently has just 14 consultants - 10 of whom are locums - and 12 middle grades.
Dr Suneil Kapadia, medical director at ULHT, said: "We have not made this decision lightly, but we've made it for the right reasons - to maintain patient safety in all three A&Es.
"We know this will be an unpopular decision but reducing the opening hours of Grantham A&E is the safest option for Lincolnshire."
He said the trust was actively trying to recruit more doctors and would fully reopen Grantham's A&E as soon as possible.


Mae panel disgyblu wedi barnu fod Neil McEvoy - yn ei rôl fel cynghorydd Plaid Cymru ar Gyngor Dinas Caerdydd - wedi torri cod ymddygiad Cyngor Caerdydd.

Cafodd ei wahardd o'r cyngor am fis gan y Panel.
Ond mae'r panel wedi dweud nad oedd wedi dwyn anfri ar swydd cynghorydd nac ar enw da Cyngor Caerdydd.
Ym marn y tribiwnlys, roedd Mr McEvoy wedi bwlio aelod o staff yr awdurdod gyda'r bwriad o beri gofid iddi, ac o ddangos diffyg parch at y swyddog.
Mae Mr McEvoy bellach yn Aelod Cynulliad Plaid Cymru dros Ddwyrain De Cymru hefyd.
Dywedodd y tribiwnlys fod Mr McEvoy wedi bwlio Deborah Carter drwy fygwth diogelwch ei swydd mewn digwyddiad yng Ngorffennaf 2015.
Bydd y panel yn penderfynu ar gosb Mr McEvoy, ac fe all hynny amrywio o'i wahardd fel cynghorydd am flwyddyn, neu ei ddiarddel am hyd at bum mlynedd.
Bu'r panel annibynnol yn clywed tystiolaeth am honiad fod Mr McEvoy wedi bygwth diogelwch swydd yr aelod staff mewn digwyddiad yng Ngorffennaf 2015.
Roedd Mr McEvoy wedi'i gyhuddo o dorri cod ymddygiad y cyngor wedi iddo fynd i'r llys i gefnogi tenant cyngor oedd yn wynebu cael ei gyrru o'i chartref.
Cyn i'r tribiwnlys gyhoeddi'r dyfarniad llawn, roedd Mr McEvoy wedi bod yn trydar i ddangos ei ddicter at y broses gyfan.
Dywedodd: "Hoffwn fynegi fy nirmyg llwyr at y ffars sydd newydd gymryd lle."
Wrth gyhoeddi'r dyfarniad, dywedodd y tribiwnlys bod tystiolaeth Ms Carter wedi bod yn gredadwy tra bod Mr McEvoy wedi bod yn aneglur ac yn tueddu i osgoi ateb ar adegau.
Wedi'r gwrandawiad fe alwodd un aelod cynulliad Llafur ar arweinydd Plaid Cymru, Leanne Wood, i wahardd Mr McEvoy o'r blaid. Dywedodd Rhiannon Passmore AC: "Dylai Leanne Wood wahardd Neil McEvoy o Blaid Cymru am ei fod wedi bwlio swyddog cyngor ym marn y Panel.
"Mae hon yn drosedd ddifrifol iawn ac fe ddylai ddangos nad yw ei phlaid ddiodde' bwlio o gwbl. Mae gan bob aelod o staff yr hawl i deimlo'n ddiogel yn y gwaith ac fe ddylai Leanne Wood ddangos ei bod hi'n credu hyn hefyd."
Mewn datganiad dywedodd Cadeirydd Plaid Cymru, Alun Ffred Jones:
In a statement, Plaid Cymru chair Alun Ffred Jones said: "Fe fyddwn ni'n adolygu penderfyniad y panel yr wythnos nesaf... rydym yn ystyried y mater o ddifri oherwydd, fel plaid, rydym yn disgwyl y safonau uchaf oddi wrth ein cynrychiolwyr etholedig.
"Does dim dadlau bod Neil yn gynghorydd gydag arddeliad sy'n gweithio'n galed iawn. Byddaf yn cwrdd wyneb yn wyneb gydag ef yr wythnos nesaf."


A Labour peer has proposed turning the former Royal High School in Edinburgh into a second chamber for the Scottish Parliament.

The plan by Lord Foulkes of Cumnock would see the setting up of a Scottish Senate to revise Holyrood legislation.
It would consist of 46 members elected using proportional representation.
The peer's idea will be examined by members of the House Lords later who are currently examining the details of the Scotland Bill.
The Scottish National Party said the idea was a "non-starter" and there was "no desire" for such a move.
Lord Foulkes believes elections for the second chamber could be held on the same day as elections for the Scottish Parliament.
At present there are controversial plans to turn the vacant school building into a luxury hotel.
The Calton Hill site was a one-time contender for the Scottish Parliament.
However, that plan was vetoed by senior Labour figures and a new building was constructed at Holyrood instead.


The death toll after a car park collapsed while under construction in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv has risen to three, rescue workers say.

A search is continuing for four other people missing at the site.
Reports say an initial collapse caused a crane to fall, bringing down more of the multi-storey building.
At least 20 people were treated for injuries following the incident in Ramat Hahayil, a commercial area in the north of the city.
Pictures from the scene show clouds of dust rising from a huge crater, with large amounts of debris at the bottom.
Dozens of firefighters, rescue and security services were dispatched to the site to help the injured and search for those feared missing.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper quoted a fire service spokesman as saying there were "people buried beneath the sand".
Police moved people away from the area, fearing other parts of the building might also collapse.


Huge forest fires have spread through Indonesia in Southeast Asia.

13 November 2015 Last updated at 08:44 GMT
The fires are bad news for the people and animals who live near the forests.
Wildlife experts are worried that up to a third of the world's orangutans could be at risk because of the fires.
Watch Ricky's report to find out how people are trying to put the fires out.


Forecasters have warned of severe thunderstorms and torrential rain for most of Wales.

A yellow "be aware" warning is in place from 01:00 on Friday to 09:00 BST on Saturday.
The Met Office has said thunderstorms in the south and mid are likely to be followed by widespread heavy rain, which will move up to Gwynedd.
There could be localised disruption from surface water flooding. Lightning and hail could also affect the area.


The best World Cup final, after the finest tournament, won by the greatest team.

There are plenty of successful sporting sides. More than a few have established dynasties. Only the rarest both triumph repeatedly and do so with the sort of style and swagger that lights up future generations as well as their own.
This All Blacks team, like the Brazil side that won football's World Cup in 1970, are now at that sanctified level: drawn from a rich heritage unlike any other, taking their sport to heights that none before have touched.
It is not simply that with Saturday night's 34-17 win over Australia they have become the first team in history to retain the Webb Ellis trophy.
Relive the action on BBC Radio 5 live
In winning their World Cup for a third time, just as Brazil did with Pele, Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho and the rest almost half a century before, they have both a cluster of superstars who will still be cherished another 50 years on and a blend that no-one who has seen will ever forget.
Twickenham witnessed both. The opening try from Nehe Milner-Skudder was a collective sleight of hand and sorcery that no other team could have conjured up: Conrad Smith's step into space only he had seen, Aaron Smith on his inside by instinct, captain Richie McCaw with black-shirted magic to find his young winger outside.
The second, garlanding the start of the second half just as the opener had illuminated the end of the first, exemplified the same unholy skills in a contrasting style: Sonny Bill Williams sucking in three defenders with brute power before off-loading with delicate dexterity, Ma'a Nonu curving away on a wrecking-ball's path through the splintering defensive wall.
Then, because Australia's remarkable fightback meant they had to win it a second time, the kingpin could stand out once again.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Dan Carter may have a World Cup winner's medal from 2011 but it was a consolation rather than coronation, his injury in the pool stages turning poster-boy into water-carrier come the knock-out stages.
His first final, in the last of his 112 Tests for his country, began with violence: Wallaby loose-head prop Scott Sio smashing him back with a late hit to the ribs, Wallaby tight-head Sekope Kepu tickling that pretty jaw with a strong-arm up top. No spoilers, but the original Get Carter does not end well for the script's eponymous hero.
This time the main man would not be denied. His peerless place kicking had helped establish the 21-3 lead which seemed to have secured the world title once again. When the Wallabies turned that around in 11 second-half minutes through David Pocock and Tevita Kuridrani, his boot then took it back.
First there was the control when all around was chaos: the right options with hands and voice in his own half, a huge clearing kick into opposition territory to still the Aussie advance.
Then the critical kicks. In his first 110 Tests Carter landed a total of just six drop-goals. In the last week he has added two more, the first to put away South Africa in the semi-finals, the second to drive a knife into the twitching Wallaby corpse.
Forty metres out, struck with a same sweet precision as if he were back in the field at his parents' house in sleepy Southbridge, taking aim at the homemade posts his father stuck up to save any more windows in the house from being smashed.
Then, five minutes later, a penalty from further out still. That he converted Beauden Barrett's breakaway try at the death with his less favoured right foot was remarkable less for the skill of it and more for the fact that it may have been the first self-indulgent act of his 12 and a half years in an All Blacks jersey.
Because this is Carter, surely the finest fly-half the world has seen, he also made more tackles than any other player from either side. Because of all he has given the game, because of the heartbreak of missing out on his home patch four years ago, this was a redemption both sweet and impossible to resist.
It was a conclusion in fitting with what had come before. The last seven World Cup finals have brought 11 tries, the last three just four.
In 40 minutes on Saturday we had five, the pace unrelenting and the patterns exhilarating. Between them the two sides made a unprecedented 916m with ball in hand, beating 42 defenders and making 18 clean breaks.
That Australia came up short in a contest so significant will leave them nursing spiritual hangovers long after the physical ones have passed, but without their inspiring second-half renaissance this would not have been the unforgettable final it was, just as without their buccaneering displays on consecutive weekends on this ground this tournament would have been so much poorer.
A year ago, coach Michael Cheika installed two days before a northern hemisphere tour on which they would lose three of four matches, one of them to a Scotland side shortly to finish bottom of the Six Nations, the Wallabies being four points from parity with 16 minutes left in a World Cup final seemed as likely as the Southern Cross appearing in a northern sky.
They came close. But this was a night for those in black to shine, just as it has been so often over the past six years, even if Steve Hansen, the coach who has masterminded it all, is so self-effacing that he was the last man onto the victory podium and hidden away behind all his players when the old gold pot was hoisted.
Thirty nine tries in six and bit weeks and seven victories. 1,339 caps in the starting XV. Two World Cups in two attempts, after 24 long years of waiting and missing and falling short.
In the international retirements of so many greats - Carter, presumably McCaw, Nonu, his foil at centre Smith, the grizzled warriors Keven Mealamu and Tony Woodcock - there should be sadness.
Instead, as the fireworks exploded into the dark south-west London night and the golden ticker-tape fell from the skies, there could be only celebration - of a team like no other, of a group of players who have made excellence seem easy.


A five-year plan to boost cycling tourism in the Scottish Borders has been unveiled.

Events such as TweedLove, the Tour o' the Borders and the Enduro World Series have all made the area popular with cyclists.
Scottish Borders Council said it wanted to develop existing events and build on consumer demand.
It comes after research by Visit Scotland showed cyclists and mountain bikers spent more than Â£155m in 2015.
The local authority has produced a draft Cycle Tourism Strategy document detailing the challenges and ambitions of developing cycling as a means of delivering economic benefits to the region.
The council is now calling for those with an interest to take part in a consultation on the issue.


The price of oil jumped after Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to discuss ways to stabilise the oil market.

The announcement was made by the countries' energy ministers, Alexander Novak and Khalid al-Falih.
The price of Brent crude initially jumped by 5% but then fell to to stand 1.6% higher at $47.56 a barrel.
A statement said the plan was to support the "stability of the oil market ... ensuring a stable level of investment in the long term".
At the start of 2016 the price of oil fell to its lowest level in nearly 13 years due to a production glut and is still far below the $110 a barrel price hit just two years ago.
Mr Novak said the agreement, which might include attempts to limit oil output, was a "historical moment" between members of Opec, the oil producers' cartel, and non-members such as Russia.
He added that Russia was willing to join an oil output "freeze".
The outline agreement, to set up a joint task force, was announced at a news conference at the G20 summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
However, Saudi Arabia's Mr al-Falih said that freezing output was not "necessary" now.
"Freezing [production levels] is one of the preferred possibilities, but it's not necessary today," he said after the cooperation agreement was unveiled.
"The market is getting better and we have noticed that prices reflect this [improvement]."
Despite their differing views, Mr Novak said he favoured choosing a month from the second half of this year that would be the benchmark for a production freeze.
He added that Russia would accept any month for this purpose, and that it was important for other countries to support the proposal, possibly including a cut in production.
Strategies to keep oil prices high by limiting production are usually the preserve of Opec and are often not successful.
However, Russia and Saudi Arabia are the world's two largest oil producers.
The ministers from the two countries will meet again later this month, and again in both October and November.
The agreement to talk about a deal, despite the lack of detail, was welcomed by two other oil producers.
"This dialogue confirms that the main oil producers are watching the oil market... to help achieve stability," said Kuwait's acting oil minister Anas al-Saleh.
The UAE energy minister Suhail al-Mazroui tweeted: "UAE, as an active and responsible member of OPEC will always support any joint efforts which will benefit market stability."


Iraqis would have rebelled against Saddam Hussein if there had been no invasion and it would have been "a lot worse than Syria", Tony Blair has said.

Iraqis previously "rose up in large numbers and were killed in very large numbers", the former UK PM said.
Mr Blair also warned the West could pay a high price if it decided not to intervene in Syria.
He spoke to the BBC ahead of the 10th anniversary of the invasion, led by the US in coalition with the UK and others.
The invasion, which started the Iraq War, began on 20 March 2003.
The UK lost 179 servicemen and women, of which 136 were killed in action, before the last British troops were withdrawn in April 2009.
Conservative estimates put the number of Iraqis killed in the invasion and ensuing sectarian violence at about 100,000.
Mr Blair told the BBC's Norman Smith that, had troops not invaded Iraq, "without any doubt at all there would have been a move to topple him".
"I certainly think that if Saddam had still been in power, it's true there would have been, probably, an uprising amongst his people," he said.
"But I think it would look a lot more like Syria and probably a lot worse than Syria."
Thousands of Syrians have lost their lives in the battle between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule.
Mr Blair said he regretted how difficult Iraq had been and the loss of life, but he did not regret the decision to oust Saddam.
Mr Blair said Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons on his own people "and that's why, when people say to me, 'do you regret removing him', my answer is 'no - how can you regret removing somebody who was a monster, who created enormous carnage - not just amongst his own people but amongst the people of the region'".
Mr Blair said he believed "very sincerely and deeply" that the former Iraqi leader was "a security threat" who had to be dealt with.
"And if you look at what's happening in the Arab Spring today and you examine what's happening in Syria - just reflect on what Bashar al-Assad, who is a 20th as bad as Saddam, is doing to his people today and the number of lives already lost.
"Just ask yourself the question: 'What would be happening now in Iraq if he had been left in power?'"
Speaking about the Syrian conflict, the former prime minister warned there was "no end in sight" and the cost of not intervening would be "very high".
"If things continue as they are in Syria today, within a few months, proportionate to the size of the population, more people will have died in Syria than in the whole of the conflict since 2003 in Iraq," he added.
In 2010, at the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War, Mr Blair was questioned about the controversial claim in a September 2002 dossier that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction at 45 minutes' notice.
He told the inquiry that it "assumed a vastly greater significance" afterwards than it did at the time.
He has insisted that, on the basis of the intelligence available at the time, it was "beyond doubt" Iraq was continuing to develop its weapons capability.
Last month, Mr Blair's deputy prime minister at the time of the 2003 invasion, Lord Prescott, said it "cannot be justified as an intervention".
He said he could not "just disown it" but he now thought the war was wrong.


Manager Nigel Clough says Burton can be proud of their showing against leaders Newcastle, despite slipping to their third straight Championship defeat.

The Brewers were beaten 2-1 at home by the Magpies on Saturday and are only two points clear of the bottom three.
Clough told BBC Radio Derby: "We played well enough to get a point out of the game and it should have been three.
"I'm incredibly proud, one of the great things was the quality of our some of our play and the quality performance."
Burton, who go to Aston Villa on Boxing Day, now have 22 points from 22 games and lost to Brentford, Huddersfield and Newcastle in an eight-day spell.
Clough feels his side deserved a better return than taking zero points from the three games.
"If we had sat here with six points after Huddersfield and Newcastle, I don't think anyone would've felt that was an unfair reflection on the two performances," continued Clough.
"If we ever get a break in the second half of the season, we get a point or three."


A man carrying machetes who was arrested near a Glasgow school was not targeting any particular individual or premises, police believe.

A police officer was slightly injured during the 27-year-old's arrest but no members of the public were hurt.
Witnesses said the man was wearing a balaclava and running back and forth by St Aloysius College on Hill Street.
He was arrested for alleged breach of the peace and carrying two offensive weapons.
There were reports the man threatened a lollipop man and tried to attack a janitor at the Glasgow School of Art during the incident which happened at about 08:30.
Ch Insp Mark Sutherland, of Police Scotland, said: "I would like to thank the many members of the public who acted quickly to ensure the safety of others.
"Through their quick and decisive action my officers were on scene within minutes and acted immediately to ensure this incident was brought to a swift conclusion.
"From our investigations so far we do not believe that the 27-year-old man's actions were targeting any particular individual or premises in the area and a full investigation is currently ongoing to establish the full circumstances that led to today's events."
A report will be prepared for the procurator fiscal.
Privately-run St Aloysius has both primary and secondary school pupils.
A school spokeswoman said: "All pupils and staff are safe as the situation was identified and quickly defused by police.
"The safety and wellbeing of our pupils is, as always, paramount and staff have met with pupils to reassure them.
"The college, along with other local businesses and residents, are now assisting Police Scotland with their inquiries."
A Glasgow School of Art spokeswoman said: "The Glasgow School of Art can confirm that a member of our staff did encounter the individual described, whilst parking his car near to a GSA building.
"The member of staff is shaken, but unharmed."


US Vice President Mike Pence has defended Donald Trump's comments that military intervention could be used to solve the crisis in Venezuela.

At the beginning of a regional tour, he said President Trump was showing "his resolve not to stand by and let a neighbour collapse into dictatorship".
Mr Pence said the US would use its "full economic and diplomatic weight to help restore democracy in Venezuela".
He was speaking in the Colombian city of Cartagena.
Mr Pence said the US would involve countries across the world to pressure the Venezuelan government to allow elections.
When asked by reporters whether pressure would include oil sanctions, Mr Pence said the US was looking at a "full range of economic sanctions" .
Many analysts have questioned the timing of President Trump's comments last Friday, ahead of Mr Pence's visit.
The statement was immediately rejected from all quarters in Latin America.
The opposition MUD coalition in Venezuela which has organised months of protests in favour of elections said the only way forward was to "re-establish democracy through free and fair elections".
There was also criticism from the South American trade bloc, Mercosur and individually from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru - some of Venezuela's severest critics.
There were also concerns that Mr Trump might have weakened regional pressure on the Venezuelan  government by giving President NicolÃ¡s Maduro a chance to intensify his frequently made allegations that the US is plotting with the opposition calling for his removal.
Mr Maduro has consistently argued that the US is trying to remove him to get hold of Venezuela's oil reserves - the largest in the world.


Assumptions about fitness in older people should not be used to decide whether patients have surgery, according to a report by the Royal College of Surgeons and Age UK.

It says some older patients miss out on vital treatment because of their age.
Age discrimination in the NHS has been made illegal but the report says it may still happen when budgets are tight.
Doctors should look at the overall health of a patient instead of using cut-off ages for procedures, it said.
The report, Access All Ages, points out that there are valid reasons why an older patient might not be considered for surgery - because they have other health problems that increase the risk of operations, or that they themselves prefer not to go under the knife.
However, the report said: "While there may be legitimate clinical reasons why an older person may not benefit from surgery, it remains the case that some patients may be missing out.
"Decisions may not always be made on the basis of a comprehensive and objective assessment, but on a series of assumptions about fitness in older age."
It said some doctors may have "outdated perceptions" and a "lack of awareness" about older patients and their ability to cope with surgery.
It highlighted rates of breast cancer, which are at their highest in women above the age of 85. However, the highest surgery rate was in women two decades younger.
Michelle Mitchell, from Age UK, said: "When it comes to people's health, their date of birth actually tells you very little.
"A healthy living 80-year-old could literally run rings round someone many years younger who does not share the same good health.
"Yet in the past too many medical decisions, we believe, have been made on age alone with informal 'cut-offs' imposed so that people over a certain age were denied treatment."
Age discrimination by NHS hospitals was outlawed at the beginning of October in a decision that applied across England, Wales and Scotland. Patients will be able to sue if they are denied care solely because of their age.
Health Minister Dan Poulter said there was "absolutely no place" for assumptions about age in the health service and that patients should receive care "that meets their healthcare needs, irrespective of their age".
The NHS Confederation's chief executive Mike Farrar said the report was "worrying".
He added: "We know that prejudicial attitudes against older people still pervade through society, but the NHS and its staff should close the door to such unacceptable behaviour."
The president of the Royal College of Surgeons, Prof Norman Williams, said: "It is alarming to think that the treatment a patient receives may be influenced by their age.
"There are multiple factors that affect treatment decisions and often valid explanations as to why older people either opt out of surgery - or are recommended non-surgical treatment alternatives.
"The key is that it is a decision based on the patient rather than how old they are that matters."


Redemption Hospital in Liberia's capital, Monrovia, was a frontline health facility at the peak of the outbreak of Ebola in 2014.

The first case of Ebola in Monrovia was treated there and shortly afterwards infection spread through the facility - claiming the lives of 12 doctors and nurses, including the head surgeon.
The World Health Organization says more than 800 health workers were infected in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three countries most affected by the disease, with 509 of those - mainly local staff - dying.
It has been a major blow to countries that had very few qualified health workers in the first place.
"It was bad because every day you get up, you hear this person is Ebola-positive and you keep going through the motions - I touched that patient too," recalls Dr Nouuieh Gorpudolo, who worked closely with the surgeon who died.
Mistrust grew within the community of the nearly 500,000 people whom the hospital was serving, and, at one point, some people besieged the facility and pelted it with stones, saying it was the source of Ebola.
The hospital was subsequently closed, like many others across the affected countries.
During the time it was shut, the facility was refurbished, but it has now reopened to the public and more people are confident of getting treatment there.
The changes are visible - at the entrance, a staff member wearing protective gear and a knapsack sprays the soles of the shoes of every person entering the hospital, then there is a temperature check and a hand-washing point with chlorine solution.
The hospital has also introduced a triage form with a checklist of Ebola symptoms.
"We go through the form and send a health worker to conduct an interview again... and check the temperature again," says Dr Gorpudolo.
On an average day, the hospital's lobby is full of patients waiting to be seen.
"Before the Ebola epidemic we used to see about 500 patients at the maternity wing a month. At the peak of the outbreak around July last year it dropped to 31 but this past month we've seen 531," adds Dr Gorpudolo.
He is among a handful of doctors serving the West African state, which has one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios in the world.
In all, the Ebola outbreak killed more than 11,000 people and on Friday, the presidents of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are meeting donors in New York to raise funds for their countries' post-Ebola recovery.
The meeting was organised by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help the three countries, who have a total combined budget of $2.1m (Â£1.3m), to rebuild their health systems over the next two years.
"Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone entered the Ebola epidemic with severely underfunded health systems," said Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's regional director for Africa.
"After a year of handling far too many severely ill patients, the surviving staff need support, better protection, compensation, and reinforcements. The existing facilities need a complete overhaul, and many new structures need to be built. If another outbreak strikes, the toll would be far worse."
Ebola has exposed the need to have more health workers - not just doctors.
Liberia's minister for health Bernice Dahn says many doctors fled the country during the civil war.
Now, she says, the ministry's recovery plan post-Ebola prioritises increasing the health workforce.
"The package includes bringing in foreign medical practitioners and we're giving priority to Liberians who are willing to come back home," Ms Dahn adds.
She hopes to employ about 4,000 more health workers.
"Our plan is to scale up the community health workforce to be able to do health promotion and dispense (medicine) and treat minor diseases."
The WHO's representative in Liberia, Alex Gasasira, says part of the reason Ebola overwhelmed the country was because of weak health systems.
There was no laboratory to test samples of the virus.
"The specimen would have to be collected, transported to Monrovia then flown out of the country to be tested."
The local community told the BBC there were only two privately owned ambulances.
But following the intervention of the international community during the outbreak, many shortcomings have been rectified.
"We now have 45 ambulances," says the health minister.
There are also more supplies like personal protective equipment and essential drugs provided mainly by aid organisations in response to the Ebola crisis.
But they will not be sufficient in the long term because the organisations will wind up their operations as the outbreak ebbs.
"Many Liberian health workers have been trained in (testing of viral haemoragic fever samples) and laboratories have been built," adds Dr Gasasira.
Compared with developed economies, Liberia, as well as Sierra Leone and Guinea, still has a long way to go to having resilient health systems that won't crumble again in the face of a large outbreak of an infectious disease.


Simon & Garfunkel's song The Sound of Silence has become one of 25 recordings to be preserved in the US Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

Written after President John F Kennedy was assassinated, the song's success prompted the split duo to re-form.
Alongside 1960s dance hit The Twist by Chubby Checker, it is among several songs selected by the library for their cultural and artistic significance.
Spanning from 1918-1980, the recordings include audio from US presidents.
Garfunkel, 71, told the Associated Press that he had hoped his performances would have enduring appeal.
He recalled thinking in the 1960s: "If we do really good and give a very special performance to these great Paul Simon songs, we might last right into the next century and be appreciated."
James Billington, Librarian of Congress, said the purpose was to choose sounds that have acquired a special significance in American culture "to celebrate the richness and variety of our audio heritage".
Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon received the most public nominations for this year's registry.
The soundtrack for the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, and the original cast album for the musical South Pacific from 1949 were among the other tracks selected.
A 1940 Jimmie Davis recording of You Are My Sunshine - which is one of the most popular country music hits ever and became Louisiana's state song in 1977 - was also added to the registry.
A 1931 radio broadcast of a folksy chat between entertainer Will Rogers and President Herbert Hoover, about an unemployment-relief campaign, was among the non-musical audio added.
A message from President Dwight Eisenhower, recorded in 1958, that was carried by the first US communications satellite and broadcast from space was included.
The registry also chose the recording of American pianist Van Cliburn playing in Moscow in 1958 when he won the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition at the age of 23.
The Library of Congress is engaged in a programme to help libraries and archives preserve recorded sound, and guard against losing key recordings.


BBC gymnastics commentator Mitch Fenner has died at the age of 70.

Fenner, who had been commentating on gymnastics for the BBC since 1979 - and every Olympic Games since 1984 - had been seriously ill with cancer.
He acted as a consultant to the Dutch gymnastics squad from 2010 and took over as head coach two years later.
Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said: "He will be missed by all of us at BBC Sport and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time."
Technical director of the Dutch Gymnastic Union Hans Gootjes said: "It is a black day for gymnastics in the Netherlands, Great Britain and beyond."
Fenner helped the Dutch team qualify for Rio 2016 in April, the first time the full men's team had qualified for the Olympics.
But it was as a commentator that he was best known to gymnastics fans in Britain.
"For many years Mitch has used his first-hand experience of working within the sport to provide our viewers with an expertise and detailed insight that was second to none," Slater added.


The European Parliament has backed the ratification of the Paris climate deal, paving the way for the world's first global agreement.

The deal aims to limit greenhouse gas emissions and keep global temperature increases "well below" 2C.
It was approved with 610 votes in favour, 38 against and with 31 abstentions.
The vote, attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, paves the way for the pact to come into force globally.
The deal on Tuesday means national ministers can now ratify the agreement on behalf of the EU later this week.
To become operational, the treaty needs at least 55 countries representing at least 55% of global emissions to complete all the steps.
"With the action taken by the EU parliament, I am confident that we will be able to cross the 55% threshold very soon, in just a matter of a few days," Mr Ban said.
"I am extremely honoured to be able to witness this historic moment," he added.
The Paris deal has raced through the UN ratification process in double-quick time. It took eight years to get the previous Kyoto Protocol agreed â€’ and that was nowhere near as comprehensive.
That is good news for the climate. Further positive news is that renewable energy is plummeting in cost, so the burden faced by nations turning away from fossil fuels is not so great.
The bad news, however, is that politicians in Paris have admitted that the targets set for curbing emissions are not tough enough.
Coal-fired power stations are still being built at a furious pace in developing countries, even as rich nations turn away from the energy source.
The Paris agreement sets an aim ideally for a maximum rise in global temperatures of 1.5C. But scientists have warned that action has been delayed for so long that there is now a need to develop ways of actually sucking CO2 out of the air.
Follow Roger on Twitter @rharrabin
The agreement comes after India, one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters, became the latest country to ratify the deal on Sunday.
As a so-called "mixed" agreement, the climate deal requires approval at both EU and national level. But on 30 September EU environment ministers agreed to fast-track it, meaning the deal could be ratified at EU level, even without votes in some national parliaments.
Backed by nearly 200 nations nearly one year ago, the agreement aims to shift the world economy away from fossil fuels in an effort to limit floods, droughts and rising sea levels.
CO2 and other greenhouse gases are the driving forces behind manmade climate change and the sharp rise in global temperatures.
Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Asad Rehman welcomed the deal as a "vital step", but said it was no time for world leaders to be complacent and action should be taken sooner rather than later.
"People across the globe are facing killer floods and droughts," he said, adding: "What matters most is action now."


Marcus Rashford "deceived" referee Neil Swarbrick to earn a penalty during Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Swansea, said Swans boss Paul Clement.

Rashford went down under a challenge from Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski just before half-time.
Wayne Rooney scored the spot-kick to give United the lead, but Gylfi Sigurdsson equalised with a free-kick.
"You want players to be honest and give their best and play hard, but not to do those kind of things," said Clement.
"Having seen it again, the player deceives the referee. It's clear.
"It's not even falling into the challenge. The fall is before the tackle so the referee was deceived."
The result leaves Swansea two points adrift of safety with three games remaining.
Clement believes his team are playing with "a lot of confidence" after coming through a spell of six matches without a win to take four points from their past two games.
He felt Swansea had opportunities to win at Old Trafford, particularly a late chance that fell to Fernando Llorente.
"I've spoken to the players and told them how tremendously proud I am of them," he said.
"It's hard enough conceding a goal at that point of the game because it changes the whole complexion, and the fact the penalty was unjustly awarded as well showed that we've got character.
"We had to dig in, we had to defend.
"But it was a fantastic moment of quality from Gylfi, and after that another wonderful chance for Llorente from another set-play, so we're happy with the way we performed."
Swansea host Everton in their next match, then travel to relegated Sunderland, before hosting West Brom on the final day of the season.
"We've come off a rough spell where we didn't play well, particularly against Watford and West Ham," said Clement.
"We have turned the corner now and we're playing better."


After a wave of German bombers attacked the Isle of Wight 70 years ago, the life of one little girl was changed forever.

Christine Pascoe was nine when the eight low-flying aircraft fired cannons and dropped their bombs on Chapel Street in Newport on 7 April 1943.
She was found under a mattress unconscious in the garden of the two-bedroom home where she was born.
The house next door in the terrace had taken a direct hit.
"I was in bed, the bomb threw me out of the house, they found me in the garden with the bed on top of me which they think saved my life," said Mrs Pascoe, now 79.
Her 36-year-old mother Eva Palmer, who had been downstairs preparing breakfast, was killed in the blast but her father had already gone to work and escaped the devastation.
Mrs Pascoe, who was at the time a schoolgirl named Christine Palmer, was taken to hospital with serious head injuries and was unconscious for a month.
She remembers waking up in hospital unable to see.
"Mortar from the bricks was in my eyes, I can remember them washing and washing my eyes out until I could see," she said.
"I know my mum by her photographs but I don't remember her."
The raid killed 17 civilians and one off-duty airman and two more civilians died later as a result of their injuries.
Chapel Street, Clarence Road and Terrace Road had the greatest fatalities.
At Moreys timber yard in Medina Avenue four workers died.
A memorial service is being held at St John's Church, at the heart of where the bombs hit, for survivors and their families to mark the date.
A remembrance plaque for those who lost their lives that morning is also planned for the area.
Mrs Pascoe said most people in the town today were unaware of that fateful day,
She said: "They don't know it even happened.
"We need to remember that civilians die in war too. We're too quick to try to sort things out by fighting.
"We all need to remember what happens in war, and those who died.
"A plaque will mean a lot to me - I do think that they have been forgotten.
"It was such a waste of life."


Rolf Harris is either innocent of indecent assault or an "idiot," Southwark Crown Court has heard.

Defence barrister Stephen Vullo QC told the London court Mr Harris had sought out many witnesses for the case.
"If he is guilty, or suspects he is guilty, why has he embarked or allowed investigators to embark on such an investigation?" Mr Vullo said.
The ex-entertainer denies four charges relating to alleged assaults on three teenage girls between 1971 and 1983.
Mr Harris, 87, was released from prison on Friday and is now appearing in the dock in person, having previously appeared via a video link.
The court was told investigators have tried to find people who were at the venues where the alleged incidents happened.
Mr Vullo said Mr Harris wanted to seek out as many witnesses as possible because he is certain of his innocence, adding that "if he is an idiot then he got lucky".
"Why make efforts to trace eyewitnesses who were there at the time of the events?"
The barrister then suggested this approach would be taken by two types of people.
"[It is] a man who is innocent and knows he is innocent, and knows that if a witness who is there with him on the day was found that she would be able to help him - or a total idiot because you would have to be a total idiot to ask for her to be found."
The court has previously heard statements from people who attended the events where the alleged assaults are said to have taken place.
They included those who denied seeing or hearing anybody upset or anything of concern taking place.
During his closing speech, Mr Vullo also addressed Harris's decision to not take the stand.
"If he cannot remember anything of [the allegations] then what can he say other than he cannot remember?"
Mr Harris is accused of groping a 14-year-old girl during a music event at the Lyceum Theatre in London in 1971.
Two further charges relate to alleged indecent assaults on a teenager in 1978, during filming for ITV celebrity show Star Games.
The fourth relates to a 13-year-old girl who claims he touched her breast after filming BBC children's TV programme Saturday Superstore in 1983.
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Jurors have been told Harris was convicted and sentenced for other offences in 2014.
Earlier, prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC told the jury there is evidence of each alleged victim accusing Harris of assault "before" his name had been linked to any offence.
He described the alleged victims as "wholly independent of each other", and said it would be a "remarkable coincidence" for three women - who didn't know each other - to give police similar accounts.
In recalling a suggestion that an alleged victim may have been seeking compensation, Mr Rees said: "I suggest to you that she did not come across as the sort of lady who would make up evidence to get compensation."
The trial continues.


Legal action taken against the Free Church of Scotland by the parents of a Peruvian boy who died on a trip to Scotland has been settled.

Gianmarco Peschiera, 14, and Carlos Gonzales, 15, died when the car they were in crashed into a parked lorry on the A9 at Inverness in July 2006.
The church was involved in arranging the trip and the car's driver, Donald MacLeod, 82, was a church member.
Gianmarco's parents wanted to sue the church on the grounds of negligence.
Mr MacLeod had been driving the boys to North Kessock where they were to meet up with the rest of their group for a day trip to Stornoway.
The former rector at Fortrose Academy, in the Black Isle, suffered a fatal heart attack while behind the wheel of his Honda CRV 4x4, which then crashed into a Tesco lorry.
Gianmarco's parents took legal action against the church, the Colegio San Andres school in Lima and the school's former headmaster in 2010.
In a statement, the Free Church of Scotland said: "We can confirm that the legal case in Peru was resolved several months ago.
"This was a tragic accident for all concerned and in particular for the families in both Peru and Scotland who lost loved ones.
"We are pleased that this long running legal process is now at an end."


Ipswich Town have had a bid accepted for Cardiff City midfielder Emyr Huws and hope to conclude the loan signing Manchester City midfielder Bersant Celina, says boss Mick McCarthy.

Huws, 23, spent the final four months of last season on loan at Portman Road, scoring three goals in 13 appearances.
"He was outstanding when he came last season, one of the best players from January onwards," said McCarthy.
Celina, 20, spent last season on loan at Dutch club FC Twente.
The Kosovo international, who has featured four times for City's first team, scored five times in 27 appearances for the top-flight side.
McCarthy told BBC Radio Suffolk: "We've been looking for a replacement for Tom Lawrence - no pressure on him there, player of the year in every department.
"He's a similar type, right-footed left winger and can play in behind the striker."
Wales international Huws joined Cardiff in August 2016 on a three-year deal but struggled to break into the Bluebirds first team, and Warnock revealed that the player dipped into his own pocket to ensure he could go on loan to Ipswich to play regularly.
"Right on the [transfer] deadline day I said: 'I want you to stay, but if Ipswich don't come up with the wages you're going to have to stay'," Warnock told BBC Wales Sport.
"He ended up paying some of the wages himself, which I found incredible and I can't take my hat off to him enough.
"It's paid off for him, because he's going to get himself a club and a contract where he'll be happy playing."
Huws made his senior debut for Wales in a friendly against Iceland in March 2014 and has won 11 caps, scoring one goal.
Cardiff manager Warnock has also confirmed he wants to sign a further three players ahead of the new season.
Last week Cardiff signed striker Danny Ward from Rotherham United and the Bluebirds have also recruited goalkeepers Lee Camp and Neil Etheridge this summer on free transfers, as well as Scotland defender Callum Paterson and winger Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


The officer in charge of the police operation at Belfast City Hall has denied police were caught "on the hop" by rioting.

Eighteen people, including 15 PSNI officers, were hurt after loyalists rioted when the council decided to no longer fly the union flag every day.
Sinn Fein has been critical about how the police handled the protest.
Chief Superintendent Alan McCrum said how it had been handled had been "proportionate".
"We were trying to police this in a way that enabled the commercial life of the city centre to go on and at the same time provide a level of support and reassurance to facilitate the business that went on in the City Hall.
"I think the policing operation was proportionate, it was considered. The fact that no-one got into the building itself is reflective of the police being there when that group managed to use bolt cutters to cut their way through the gate.
"It was a difficult situation for a couple of minutes but the police officers exercised, I think, extreme courage and managed the situation very well in getting those people out of the courtyard."
The former SDLP leader John Hume used to frequently say "you can't eat a flag".
Ask most Northern Ireland politicians whether they would prefer to spend their time discussing flags or "bread and butter issues" and they'll tell you the economy every time.
Despite that, flags, murals and even the wearing of poppies continue to have the potential to stir sharp divisions.
Read more
About 1,000 loyalists were protesting outside the City Hall during a debate on the union flag.
Nationalists wanted the flag taken down altogether, but in the end voted on a compromise from the Alliance party that it would fly on up to 20 designated days.
The vote was 29 to 21, with unionists accusing the Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance of attacking their cultural identity.
Trouble started after news of the vote was communicated to the protesters. Some forced their way into the back yard of the City Hall and clashed with police.
Golf balls, bottles and crush fencing was thrown at police officers outside.
Sinn Fein Policing Board member Gerry Kelly said the police operation had been completely inadequate.
"I have to say, and I don't use these words unless I really mean them, it was a disgraceful police operation, or lack of a police operation," he said.
"If that had been 1,000 or more republicans out there they would not have left it that they were able to come into the back of city hall."
A press photographer and two council employees were injured. Vehicles in the courtyard, some belonging to councillors, were damaged.
The photographer has said he was hit by the police while trying to cover the protests.
There was also trouble in east Belfast, with police attacked with bottles and bricks in the Albertbridge Road and Templemore Avenue areas of east Belfast. Three people have been arrested.
Belfast's Lord Mayor Gavin Robinson said that it had been a "very disappointing night" for the image of the city and that "a democratic institution" had been attacked.
"This is an issue that has actually caused a lot of consternation in society that provoked a big turnout for the public consultation (on flag flying)," the DUP councillor said.
"People were vexed over the issue, but there were others who took the opportunity to make hay while the sun shone."
The DUP has now asked that the union flag be allowed to be flown every day from the cenotaph in the grounds of the building.
The proposal is being considered and requires the Alliance party to support it.


Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb has said the Nato summit in Newport has raised the profile of Wales abroad and would attract investment.

"It's been a massive showcase for so much that's positive, strong and good about Wales," he said.
Mr Crabb said the relationship with the Welsh government and First Minister Carwyn Jones worked "remarkably well".
He said they had been determined that day-to-day politics would not interfere with showing Wales working together.
More than 60 world leaders, 4,000 delegates and 1,500 journalists have spent two days at the Celtic Manor Resort for the one of the biggest ever international gatherings ever to be held in the UK.
Mr Crabb said: "We wanted it to be an opportunity to show the world the very best of Wales in terms of hospitality, quality of infrastructure and facilities. I believe this week has shown exactly that.
"We've been clear that this Nato summit needs to have a lasting economic impact for Wales.  I believe the global profile of Wales this week will help that.
"And with the investment summit we're organising on the back of the Nato summit, we're determined it will bring more inward investment.
"Bringing world leaders, prime ministers and ambassadors here this week has all been part of that plan."
The UK Investment Summit, on 20 and 21 November, will also be held at the Celtic Manor.
US President Barack Obama voiced his approval for the warm Welsh welcome on Thursday, praising the country for its "extraordinary beauty, wonderful people, and great hospitality."
Despite hopes of long-term benefits to Wales, traders in the centre of Cardiff have complained that security barriers and road closures hit their businesses hard by deterring customers in the run-up to the summit and during the event.
First Minister Carwyn Jones paid tribute to residents and businesses for their support for the summit and "tolerance of some inevitable disruption".
"What a fantastic week this has been for Wales," he said.
"President Obama himself gave us the biggest endorsement, praising the extraordinary beauty, wonderful people and great hospitality of our country and saying he would encourage people from the United States to visit here.
"The next step is to ensure we keep this momentum going."
Cardiff council promised that security barriers in the centre of the city would be taken down by Sunday afternoon.
As part of the promotional push at the summit, world leaders were presented with willow baskets filled with gifts from Wales.
A note from Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I hope you will enjoy each of these gifts and be inspired by them to find out about all that Wales has to offer."
The basket included:


A major South West hospital failed to ensure the safety of patients four times during surgeries last year.

There were three so-called "never events" in March and April and another in November at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, it has revealed.
The last incident meant surgical equipment was inserted into the wrong side of a patient's body.
The patient was unharmed. Medical director Phil Hughes said it was essential to learn from any mistakes.
Read more on this story as it develops throughout the day on our Local Live pages.
The surgery involved putting dye into the patient so the kidneys could be seen on X-ray.
The report said the team carried out the correct procedure immediately.
"This incident is currently being investigated. Immediate actions have been taken to prevent recurrence," the hospital trust's latest report said.
Phil Hughes, consultant radiologist and medical director for Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We see and treat nearly half-a-million patients per year and for hundreds of thousands of people their investigations and treatment go well and they report being highly satisfied with their care.
"But, for a small minority, mistakes happen and things do not go as planned. When mistakes happen it is essential that we are open and honest about them and, importantly, that we use them as learning opportunities to help us improve our services and make them safer."
The latest report by health watchdogs the Care Quality Commission says that Derriford requires improvement in surgery.
"Never events" is the terminology used within the NHS to describe serious but preventable instances where errors take place.


A priest has accused the Archbishop of York and four bishops of misconduct after they "failed to act" on allegations he was raped by a vicar.

The victim claims no-one responded when he brought the alleged offences to light.
A complaint is being reviewed by the Church of England, his lawyer said.
Clergy representatives said they were unable to comment on the claims published in the Guardian as they formed part of an active investigation.
The priest said all five men were aware of his claims he had been repeatedly raped by a vicar when he was 16 in 1984, but none of them acted.
He said he made the allegations verbally to the Right Reverend Peter Burrows, the Bishop of Doncaster; the Right Reverend Steven Croft, the former Bishop of Sheffield, and now Bishop of Oxford; and the Right Reverend Martyn Snow, a former Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham, and now the Bishop of Leicester, between July 2012 and February 2013.
The Archbishop of York John Sentamu and the Right Reverend Glyn Webster, the Bishop of Beverley, were also made aware when they were copied in to a letter sent to the Rt Rev Croft in June 2013, he said.
His lawyer, David Greenwood, of Switalskis Solicitors, said the priest finally spoke up after a safeguarding issue in his own parish "triggered his memories".
"He reached out for help to the Bishop of Doncaster but found that he got no help, no support and no response," he said.
"He continued to try to elicit a response from the senior people in his diocese but got nothing."
Under the Church of England's clergy disciplinary measures a complaint must be made within one year of the alleged misconduct.
An application for permission to make complaints out of time has been lodged and is being considered by the church.
Mr Greenwood said a complaint had also been made to West Yorkshire Police and the details of the alleged misconduct passed to the Goddard Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
A spokesperson for the archbishop said he had only been sent a copy of the letter and the original recipient of the letter had "a duty to respond and not the archbishop".
A spokesperson for the bishops said that if the complaint went forward "our bishops will make a full response to the various allegations made in due course".
A complaint has also been made by the priest against Roy Williamson, a former bishop of Bradford and now an honorary assistant bishop with the diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, that he failed to act at the time of the abuse.
A spokesperson for his diocese said: "We cannot comment during a live investigation except to say that if approached by the authorities we will offer them every co-operation."
West Yorkshire Police said it is investigating a report of a historical serious sexual offence said to have occurred in the Bradford area in the 1980s.
A force representative said: "A crime has been recorded and a 69-year-old man has been spoken to in connection with the inquiry."


Plans to replace Scotland's enterprise and training agencies with one national board have been abandoned.

Minister Keith Brown said Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland would continue with their own boards.
He also announced that a national strategic board would be set up, to "align the work" of the agencies.
Opposition parties welcomed the news but said the minister had been forced to make the u-turn.
The process had been the source of a political row with Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative MSPs accusing the Scottish government of centralisation.
In his statement, Mr Brown said that a new enterprise agency would be set up to cover the South of Scotland and the shape of this organisation would become clearer following local authority elections in May.
He said he had listened to the debates on the future shape of enterprise and skills services, and recognised the value of Scotland's agencies but changes were needed to better support Scotland's economy.
Mr Brown added that the individual boards would continue to have the "powers and functions" and would "collaborate and align" to increasing productivity and exports.
Analysis by Douglas Fraser, Scotland business and economy editor
Anyone who knows about the politics of the Highlands and Islands could guess that centralising the region's enterprise body was going to provoke a ferocious backlash.
The economic development agency is a rare case of a quango to which people have a real attachment.
The other puzzling element was that the policy seemed to be soft launched in half-baked form last October. Members of the boards facing abolition weren't consulted or even told in advance.
And without a clear plan, the HIE suggestion was only the most obvious of those that would set mountain hares running.
Read more from Douglas
The minister said Brexit was among the reasons for the changes.
But opposition parties said they still had concerns the new strategic board would make big decisions currently made at local level by HIE, Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland.
Labour's Jackie Baillie said Mr Brown appeared to have made a series of u-turns on the setting up of the new board.
She asked Mr Brown to confirm that the planned strategic board would not be statutory and said she was surprised that he would not be chairing the new group.
The minister said he believed it was important that a minister did not chair the board and these feelings had been shared by the review group.
Liberal Democrat MSP Tavish Scott also said Mr Brown's statement represented a "u-turn" away from previous plans to wind up the individual boards.
Conservative MSP Liz Smith welcomed the retention of the boards of the enterprise and skills agencies.
She asked if it would still be for parliament to allocate the funding to the Scottish Funding Council, which allocates public money to colleges and universities.
Mr Brown said there was no intention to change the functions or the structures of the council.
Green MSP John Finnie thanked Mr Brown for listening to the board of HIE and also asked for a meeting to discuss some remaining concerns about the agency.
HIE supports businesses in the islands, Highlands, Argyll and Moray.
It began as the Highlands and Islands Development Board 50 years ago, becoming HIE in 1990.
The first phase of the Enterprise and Skills Review was published in October last year and recommended that a new national board co-ordinate the activities of HIE, Scottish Enterprise and other bodies.
In January, MSPs voted to demand the Scottish government allow HIE to retain its own board.
In his response, Mr Brown said HIE would "continue to be locally based, managed and directed" under his plans.
A report was recently published on the scope, structures and functions for a new board.
Prof Lorne Crerar's publication recommended HIE and the others retain their independent boards.
HIE's work in recent years has included providing funding to upgrade a fabrication yard at Arnish, near Stornoway on Lewis, and helping to secure the future of jobs at a call centre in Forres.
It is involved in the roll-out of superfast broadband to rural areas and initiatives to encourage young people to live and work in the Highlands and Islands.
HIE has also flagged up the need to better tackle gender imbalance in the workplace.
In 2015, it officially opened its Inverness Campus, a large area of land at Beechwood in Inverness which HIE has made available for businesses and research organisations.
Inverness College UHI built a new college on part of the campus.
However, during the early stages of planning the campus, HIE was criticised by Western Isles Council - Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.
It said the agency should be investing in fragile areas of the region and not "booming" Inverness.


A man has been found guilty of stabbing a minicab dispatcher to death in east London.

Gulam Chowdhury, 24, from Barking, was convicted of murdering Mohammed Yasser Afzal at the Old Bailey.
Mr Afzal, from Forest Gate, was killed outside a cab office in Broadway, Stratford, in March 2014.
Police said Chowdhury, of Heenan Close, had plotted to kill Mr Afzal because of a row over a woman they had both been in a relationship with.
The court heard the woman had told Chowdhury that Mr Afzal had compromising pictures of her on a mobile phone.
Police said he was threatening to expose their relationship to her parents, who did not approve.
Mr Afzal was working at E20 Cars when he was stabbed 20 times in the attack on 24 March. He never regained consciousness.
Officers managed to place Chowdhury at the scene of the murder through mobile phone records.
Det Insp Euan McKeeve said: "The level of violence used was shocking and ensured that Mohammed would not survive the attack.
"Whatever Mohammed's motives were for the actions he took in attempting to maintain his relationship with a woman, he did not deserve to be murdered."
Another man - Mohammed Khan, 24, of Lindsey Road, Dagenham - was found not guilty of assisting an offender.
The jury was discharged having failed to reach a verdict over charges against Nargis Riaz, 22, from Barking, who was accused of murder. She denied the charge.
Correction 23 April: The verdict in the case against Mohammed Khan has been amended in light of a clarification from the court.


Warwickshire have reported a record operating profit for 2015.

Edgbaston's return to England's home Test match schedule helped the county turn in a profit of £2.266m.
In chief executive Colin Povey's final year in charge at Edgbaston, it surpassed the previous best record operating profit of £1.15m in 2009.
The county suffered a loss of £668,000 in their County Championship-winning year of 2012, but have now returned a profit in three straight years.
They made a small profit of £4,500 in 2013, then recorded a £230,000 profit for 2014 - the season in which the Bears won the T20 Blast.
New Warwickshire chief executive Neil Snowball, who took over on 6 January following Povey's farewell on 16 December, also points to an 86 per cent increase in attendances and a consequent 43 per cent increase in revenue.
"Whilst hosting an Ashes Test is a great opportunity, the club had to work very hard to maximise this opportunity," he said. "It is also very encouraging to be rewarded for the increased investment in T20 cricket.
"The regular opportunity to watch Birmingham Bears on a Friday night, allowing under-16s in for free has made T20 cricket at Edgbaston a very exciting proposition.  We have ambitious plans to grow further in 2016."
Edgbaston is scheduled to host England's One-Day International against Sri Lanka on Friday, 24 June. The 25,000 capacity ground is also to host the second Test against Pakistan from 3-7 August. Warwickshire's home will also hosts T20 Blast Finals Day on Saturday, 20 August.
In the second year of their latest four-year agreement which goes up to 2018, it will be the eighth time the county have been chosen as hosts in the 14 seasons of domestic Twenty20 cricket.
Edgbaston, which hosted Finals Day in 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2011, has now hosted it consecutively since 2013. After a six-year run at Birmingham, Trent Bridge will have it in 2019.
From 2016 to 2019, Edgbaston is scheduled to host 35 days of big-match cricket: A Test match each year - including one of the Ashes Tests in 2019) - as well as five matches, including one of the semi-finals, in both the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019.


A woman recruited from India to be a domestic servant for a family in the UK and paid 11p an hour has been awarded almost £184,000 in unpaid wages.

Permila Tirkey, 39, was discriminated against because of her "low caste", her lawyers said, describing it as the first successful case of its kind.
She worked 18-hour days, having been recruited because her employers wanted someone "servile", a tribunal heard.
The employment tribunal upheld a number of claims against her employers.
Ms Tirkey's barrister Chris Milsom said she could now receive a substantial amount in compensation.
He said the case represented a legal landmark because caste was considered an aspect of race by the tribunal. Caste is a hereditary division rooted in Hindu society, based on factors such as wealth, rank or occupation.
"Effectively, she was ill-treated because of her inherited status," said Mr Milsom.
The hearing, in Cambridge, was told Ms Tirkey worked for Pooja and Ajay Chandhok in Milton Keynes for four and a half years, during which time:
She cooked and cleaned for the couple, as well as looking after their children.
The tribunal found the conditions in which she was forced to live and work was a "clear violation of her dignity", adding "it created an atmosphere of degradation which was offensive".
It upheld several claims, including that she was harassed on the grounds of her race, subjected to unacceptable working conditions and was the victim of indirect religious discrimination.
Ms Tirkey said: "I want the public to know what happened to me as it must not happen to anyone else.
"The stress and anxiety that this sort of thing creates for a person can destroy them. I have not been able to smile because my life had been destroyed.
"Now I am able to smile again. Now I am free."
The tribunal heard Ms Tirkey was recruited from Bihar in eastern India in 2008 because her employers wanted "someone who would be not merely of service but servile, who would not be aware of United Kingdom employment rights".
It concluded Ms Tirkey, who could not speak English, was considered "ideal" by the family because of her position as a member of the Adivasi caste, described as the lowest class in the "caste pyramid". She described herself as being from the "servant class".
The tribunal found "the claimant was acceptable to the respondents as their domestic servant, not because of her skills but because she was, by birth, by virtue of her inherited position in society, and by virtue of her upbringing... a person whose expectations in life were no higher than to be a domestic servant".
No-one based in the UK would have accepted the conditions of work, it concluded.
Ms Tirkey ended up leaving the Chandhoks after a row, in which the couple gave her an ultimatum to stay or go, the hearing found. A charity found her emergency accommodation.
Mr and Mrs Chandhok have been ordered to pay £183,773, to make up the total she should have been paid if she had received the national minimum wage.
Ms Tirkey's solicitor Victoria Marks, from the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit, said: "This is a very useful judgement for victims of modern day slavery.
"We hope that it will give other victims the courage to come forward and seek redress."
Her barrister Mr Milsom, of Cloisters, said "the government's original rationale for refusing explicit prohibition of caste-based discrimination was that there was no evidence of it taking place in the UK".
He said the tribunal's "damning findings" had left that stance "untenable", adding: "Where such discrimination exists its victims must be protected."


Swansea City ended their pre-season tour to America with a goalless draw against North Carolina in Raleigh.

The side from the NASL - the second tier division below the MLS - fielded three goalkeepers during the game, with Brian Sylvestre, Macklin Robinson, and Matias Reynares all making good saves.
Leroy Fer, Jordan Ayew, Mike van der Hoorn and Oli McBurnie all went close to breaking the deadlock for Swansea.
"We made hard work of the game at times tonight," Swans boss Paul Clement said.
"We got in behind them early on, but for some reason our level of play deteriorated.
"In the second half we started okay. Then I made the changes and it became very stretched and disorganised in the end - it was almost like a basketball game with it going end to end.
"It is unbelievable we didn't convert any of our chances.
"We limited them to one good opportunity in the first half and a half chance in the second half, so that was an encouraging element of our game."
Swansea will return home to continue their pre-season, with a match at Birmingham City on Saturday, 29 July next up.


Brentford have signed Zulte Waregem's Danish international Henrik Dalsgaard for an undisclosed fee.

The right-back, who will join the Bees when the transfer window opens on 10 June, has signed a three-year contract with the Championship club.
The 27-year-old has won three caps for Denmark, having made his debut against Iceland in March 2016.
"Henrik is a player that we have been looking at for some time," head coach Dean Smith said.
"We have watched him quite a few times and we like his qualities on the pitch."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


Police have released CCTV images of a man they want to trace in connection with a serious assault outside a nightclub in Glasgow city centre.

The attack happened near The Garage nightclub in Sauchiehall Street at about 03:00 on Wednesday 27 July.
A 21-year-old man suffered injuries that required hospital treatment.
The man police want to speak to is described as being white, fair haired, of slim-to-medium build and with tattoos on his forearms.


England Netball have awarded 24 players full-time contracts as the build-up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games continues.

Loughborough Lightning's Ella Clark is included despite missing the Super League Grand Final with a serious knee injury.
Two come from champions Wasps, while 12 play in the top domestic leagues in Australia and New Zealand.
Additionally, 11 players have been selected into the England Futures programme.
The 2017-18 international calendar will include two editions of the Quad Series, a three-match series in New Zealand, the 2017 Fast5 tournament, a home international series and next year's Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia.
England's players went full-time from June 2016 as part of a mission to reach the 2019 World Cup final.
England Roses: Ama Agbeze (Adelaide Thunderbirds), Summer Artman (Herts Mavericks), Sara Bayman (Central Pulse), Eleanor Cardwell (Severn Stars), Ella Clark (Loughborough Lightning), Jade Clarke (Adelaide Thunderbirds), Beth Cobden (Loughborough Lightning), Kadeen Corbin (Mainland Tactix), Sasha Corbin (Northern Mystics), George Fisher (Wasps), Stacey Francis (West Coast Fever), Jodie Gibson (Severn Stars), Serena Guthrie (Giants), Natalie Haythornthwaite (Wasps), Joanne Harten (Giants), Helen Housby (New South Wales Swifts), Hannah Joseph (Loughborough Lightning), Leah Kennedy (Team Northumberland), Gabby Marshall (Manchester Thunder), Laura Malcolm (Severn Stars), Geva Mentor (Sunshine Coast Lightning), Chelsea Pitman (Adelaide Thunderbirds), Natalie Panagarry (Loughborough Lightning), Razia Quashie (Herts Mavericks).
England Futures: Rebekah Airey (Loughborough Lightning), Halimat Adio (Herts Mavericks), Amy Carter (Manchester Thunder), Brittany Coleman (Loughborough Lightning), Amy Clinton (Manchester Thunder), Iona Darroch (Severn Stars), Sophie Drakeford-Lewis (Herts Mavericks), Zara Everitt (Herts Mavericks), Josie Huckle (Wasps), Vicki Oyesola (Loughborough Lightning), Francesca Williams (Wasps).


Leyton Orient have sacked manager Andy Hessenthaler after just five months in charge, the League Two club have confirmed.

The 51-year-old is the first managerial departure in the Premier League and English Football League this season.
Orient are 14th in the table after suffering back-to-back defeats, having won three of their nine league games.
Hessenthaler signed a one-year deal in the summer after taking charge for the final five games of last season.
Former Dover and Gillingham boss Hessenthaler was the seventh Orient manager since Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti bought the east London club in the summer of 2014.
The O's finished eighth last season, just six points outside the play-off places.
Hessenthaler was previously assistant to Ian Hendon and then Kevin Nolan at the Matchroom Stadium, and was initially appointed on a caretaker basis in April after former West Ham midfielder Nolan departed.
Assistant manager Andy Edwards, 45, will take charge of the side for Tuesday's home match against Plymouth Argyle.


With Islamic State militants now inside the historic town of Palmyra in Syria, the question, inevitably, is whether they will destroy the ancient ruins.

As IS continues to sweep through parts of Iraq and Syria, damage to centuries-old artefacts - because IS sees statues and shrines as idolatrous - is plentiful.
But history has shown that, when culturally important sites are under threat, people will find a way to rally round and save what they can.
Artefacts have been saved in the face of war, natural disaster and genocide - often with seemingly insurmountable logistics and threats to overcome.
Similar efforts have taken place in Palmyra, too.
But how straightforward is it to save what others are determined to destroy? And what are the crucial factors that can help save artefacts?
In 2012, Islamists seized the historic Malian city of Timbuktu. They started to destroy mausoleums, and banned singing, dancing and sport.
Valuable manuscripts dating back to the 13th Century were under threat - and they ended up being smuggled out of the city right under the Islamists' noses.
It took a group of determined Timbuktu residents, who raised money to pay for bribes and worked out when the militants slept in order to move the papers, mainly by boat.
Staff from two museums provided a safe house for the manuscripts in the capital, Bamako, and helped smuggle them out of Timbuktu in a complex operation.
For the Mali manuscripts to survive, it took co-ordination, planning, bravery and more than a little luck - in that the Islamists did not try to destroy them immediately.
Years of conflict and Taliban rule saw Afghanistan's national museum in Kabul bombed and looted to such an extent it was feared that nothing valuable remained.
But, to very few people's knowledge, the museum's director and four other men stored 22,000 of the most valuable items in the vault.
It was locked by five keys, one of which went to each man - or to his eldest child if he died. Neither of the men said where the objects were stored - even when threatened at gunpoint.
Some objects were moved into the presidential palace on the orders of President Mohammad Najibullah, whose government fell in 1992.
A curator at the British Museum, where the objects went on show in 2011, said the men were "undoubtedly unsung heroes".
During the siege of Sarajevo in 1992, the city's National Library was deliberately hit by shell fire, and at least two million books and documents were destroyed.
Many people rushed to the library to save what they could, despite sniper fire from surrounding hills.
But the fire also spurred the head of another library to take action. Mustafa Jahic led efforts to smuggle more than 100,000 books out of his building in banana crates, moving them between safe houses.
He also smuggled equipment through a tunnel near Sarajevo's airport that allowed him to microfilm rare documents.
The advance of IS towards Palmyra gave authorities plenty of warning - a factor that is crucial when it comes to saving priceless objects.
Maamoun Abdulkarim, the director general of Syria's antiquities and museums, said that hundreds of statues and other objects had been moved from Palmyra to safe-houses in Damascus.
"But how do you save colonnades that weigh a ton?" he said. "How do you save temples and cemeteries and, and, and?"
Similar work is being done elsewhere in Syria - largely to take objects out of looters' sights.
Cheikmous Ali is an archaeology professor and founder of the Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology (Apsa), that monitors damage done to Syrian archaeological sites.
"In Aleppo, in particular, there are people who have done some amazing work to protect monuments," he said.
"There are laws that allow you to move artefacts abroad if they are under threat. You have some areas, like Idlib and its museum, that aren't under government control.
"But everything in its museum can't be moved to, for example, Turkey, as anyone who moves it would be considered a thief there and arrested. So everything is still there in Idlib."
The key to saving future archaeological sites is co-ordination, careful planning and an assessment of the safety of the site and of safe houses, said Zaki Aslan, a director of Iccrom, a UN-backed body that works to conserve cultural heritage.
He also urged anyone who wanted to protect rare objects to maintain contact with authorities and to catalogue them thoroughly.
"One can feel helpless but we should try to do something," he said.
"Unesco has called for people to co-operate, for even the people in the conflict to find ways.
"It will be a great loss if even some of the parts of Palmyra are lost. Not just for Syria, but for the world."


The jury in the trial of a man accused of the manslaughter of Jason McGovern has been sent home for the day after hearing lawyers sum up their cases.

Mark Donnelly, 23, from Greencastle, denies killing the 19-year-old from Tydavnet, County Monaghan in 2012.
Mr McGovern died after being punched during a night out in Omagh, County Tyrone, on New Year's Eve in 2012.
Jurors will return to Dungannon Crown Court on Friday to resume their deliberations.
In his closing speech to the jury, a prosecution lawyer said Mr Donnelly was either a "cowardly liar" or the "unluckiest man alive".
However, a defence lawyer said evidence from a key witness identifying Mr Donnelly as the attacker was "a catalogue of errors" and "mistaken in a number of key respects".
The judge told jurors the key issue was the question: "Did the defendant strike the blow in the Weigh Inn car park?"
The prosecution lawyer said Mr McGovern, despite "extreme provocationâ€¦ did his best to defuse a volatile situation".
He said Mr Donnelly was "a man who would do anything to save his own skin" and had attempted to "hoodwink" and "pull the wool" over the eyes of the jury.
He claimed the defendant was responsible for both a "cowardly punch" and a "cowardly denial" and he was "not brave enough to admit" what he had done.
The prosecutor said if Mr Donnelly was innocent, he was a "very unlucky man" in being identified by a witness, and being filmed on CCTV in the area seconds before and after the assault.
He told the jury: "Because the (CCTV) camera doesn't show him hitting Jason McGovern he's thinking he's going to fool you into thinking he didn't throw the punch. It's just a charade."
He added: "You may think he is the unluckiest man alive or he is guilty. I say there is no doubt about that. Mark Donnelly is guilty of manslaughter. Mark Donnelly is guilty of punching Jason McGovern."
In summing up the defence case, a lawyer told the jury that there were "too many problems with the evidence of (the key prosecution witness) for you to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the guilt of this young man".
He said the witness had admitted that she could have made a mistake and pointed to the evidence in the witness box of Mr Donnelly, who had said: "I say that she is mistaken. I did not strike anyone down by the Weigh Inn car park."
He said even if the jury took the view that Mr Donnelly had been lying, the jury "must not assume for that reason the defendant is guilty of the offence of manslaughter".
The judge told the jury that the death of Mr McGovern was "very emotive", but they must approach their task "quite clinically".


Two people have been arrested on suspicion of murder following the death of a man in Portsmouth on New Year's Day.

The body of Christopher Butler, 27, from Southsea, was discovered at a flat in Waverley Road in the early hours of Friday.
A 23-year-old woman and a 33-year-old man, both from Portsmouth, are being held, Hampshire Constabulary said.
A post-mortem examination on Friday was inconclusive.


A Cambridge University employee has been charged with stealing more than £285,000 from a college.

The 41-year-old woman, from Cambridge, was charged with two counts of fraud by abuse of position.
Cambridgeshire Police said she was arrested on suspicion of theft from an employer following a report from Pembroke College.
The woman, who has been bailed, is also charged with stealing more than £3,000 from Girton Social Club.
She has also been charged with one count of false accounting.
The woman is expected to appear before magistrates in Cambridge on 1 December.


I'm interviewing all of the main party leaders this week for Wales Today in a variety of cafes across Wales.

I kicked things off with Labour's shadow Welsh Secretary Owen Smith in the baking sunshine at Barry Island.
He gave some interesting answers when I asked him whether he'd be prepared to criticise the Welsh government publicly on the delivery of public services if he felt he needed to.
Mr Smith told me: "Where there needs to be hard words there will be hard words."
The context here is important. We are coming to the end of the first parliamentary term in which there has been a Conservative-led coalition at Westminster and a Labour Welsh government in Cardiff since the start of devolution.
The relationship has at times been hostile.
The Conservatives have long maintained that the criticism has brought much-needed scrutiny that was lacking when there were Labour governments on either side of the M4.
Labour of course insist the best relationship for the good of public services is one of "critical friendship" rather than "divide and rule", and that was the tone Owen Smith struck when I spoke with him although he did say those hard words would be made publicly if needs be.
Labour are also juggling with two narratives on the Welsh economy that at times  appear to compete with each other.
Today was a classic example. Owen Smith was accompanied by the shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Rachel Reeves at a food bank in Barry to campaign against what they call the bedroom tax and and what they also call an explosion of zero hours contracts.
The tone and content seem very different to what Labour's First Minister Carwyn Jones talks about when he says the Welsh economy is benefiting from a devolution dividend that has resulted in record levels of inward investment.
I've put this point to both senior Labour figures and they're response is that the two are not mutually exclusive.
Carwyn Jones says his efforts have come despite the UK government while Owen Smith says inward investment operates against a broader environment of low wages and insecure employment.
In the sunshine of Barry Island, there were lots of smiley faces but Labour are banking on those smiles being skin-deep, while underneath it all there rests deep disquiet about the direction of the economy.
In other words, are people feeling the economic recovery? The central question of this election campaign.
Next up the Lib Dems.


Eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt described his performance as "very bad" as he won his 100m heat at the World Championships in 10.07 seconds.

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The Jamaican, who is retiring after the event in London, beat Great Britain's James Dasaolu into second (10.13) but was frustrated with his start.
"I'm not fond of these blocks," said Bolt. "I have to get this together."
The USA's Justin Gatlin, twice suspended for doping, was booed when he came out to race but eased through.
Britons Reece Prescod (10.03) and Chijindu Ujah (10.07) took top-three spots to reach Saturday's semi-finals.
Prescod's mark was a lifetime best and earned him third place in a heat where Jamaica's Julian Forte produced the fastest time of the night to win in 9.99 seconds.
The British champion said: "My first World Championships I come out with a PB in the first round - I can't really complain.
"Being in front of a home crowd it's great, this is what athletics is all about - I loved it."
Bolt in contrast looked like he needed to work hard through the middle of the race before tapering down and shaking his head after crossing the line.
The 11-time world champion has only run under 10 seconds once this year and in what was his fourth race of 2017 over the distance he has made his own for a decade, he pointed to his starting blocks as a source of frustration.
"It's shaky because when I did the warm up it [the blocks] pushed back," he told BBC Sport. "It's not what I am used to."
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Former Great Britain sprinter Darren Campbell on BBC Radio 5 live: "This is what we mean by athletes believing they can beat Usain Bolt.
"Two or three in this field have run quicker than him. Where he would have liked to step it up a bit and look easy, he had to work and then started looking across. He expected more. But we know he loves the rounds.
"He tends to make mistakes in the early rounds but I'm sure he wont make the same in the semi-finals."
Four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson on BBC One: "The race didn't look like normal Usain Bolt. He obviously felt something in the blocks he didn't like and it affected him in the race. He normally doesn't race in the first round and just runs what he needs to run, but he was actually competing and it just looked a little weird."
American champion Christian Coleman - the fastest man in the world this year - looked comfortable, easing down to a 10.01 victory.
His win came in the first of six heats, with three men qualifying from each as well as six fastest losers, cutting a 48-man field down to 24 athletes for the semi-finals.
Jamaican Yohan Blake - the second fastest man in history behind Bolt - looked slightly laboured in placing second in 10.13 behind 18-year-old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown of Japan (10.05).
American Justin Gatlin cruised to a 10.05-second victory but it was Jamaica's Forte who set the marker on the night as the only man to break 10 seconds.
He edged out Ivory Coast's Ben Youssef Meite and Prescod in a race where Akani Simbine disappointed in coming fourth. The South African has run sub-10 on eight occasions this season but required a fastest-loser spot to progress.


Paul Cairney's second-half equaliser denied Clyde a Scottish Cup shock at Ayr United.

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League Two Clyde, the lowest-placed club left in the competition, took the lead when David Gormley swept home from 10 yards.
Sean Higgins' low effort almost put the Bully Wee 2-0 ahead, but it came back off the post.
Ayr, who also hit the woodwork in the first half, levelled when Cairney's strike found the bottom corner.
The replay will be at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld on Tuesday.
That Clyde have another chance owes much to their teenage goalkeeper Connor Quinn.
The 18-year-old former Livingston player was only signed midweek as a stand-in for the suspended John Gibson and, within two minutes, was pushing a Gary Harkins effort wide of the post.
Quinn went on to repel good shots from Craig McGuffie and Declan McDaid before watching Nicky Devlin's strike hit the inside of the post, bounce along the line and away off the other post.
After the break, former Ayr forward Gormley followed up his hat-trick in the previous round with his 10th goal of the season.
The ball broke to the former Auchinleck Talbot man just inside the box and his right-footed finish went beyond Greg Fleming and into the back of the net.
Higgins' 20-yard drive cannoned back off the post as the forward - one of four former Ayr players in the starting line-up - went close again before the hosts levelled.
Brian Gilmour's corner was only half-cleared and Cairney pounced at the edge of the box to chest down and score.
Visiting goalkeeper Quinn then prevent Cairney from curling his second into the top-right corner.
Ayr manager Ian McCall: "We had a lot of chances in the first half and their young goalie did very well.
"Clyde got their goal and we showed a bit of courage to come back from that.
"After that, we had a couple of great chances to win the game - Darryl Meggatt knows he should have scored and Paul Cairney shouldn't have allowed the goalie the chance to save it.
"It's a missed opportunity for us, but we're still in the cup.
"We could have done without the game this Tuesday because we play Dumbarton a week today - which is a pretty big game for us."
Clyde manager Barry Ferguson: "Obviously we're delighted still to be in the hat, but we're just disappointed we didn't win the game.
"But we'll look forward to the replay on Tuesday. I would rather play games than train, but I'm not going to see the guys until six o'clock on Tuesday.
"Ayr have got a lot of good players and they're in the Championship. We came here to win the game and we were close to winning it.
"I'm delighted for Connor Quinn. It's never easy for a young boy.
"I like his attitude and he's desperate to try and learn. I was happy with his performance.
"He's got a good appetite to learn and that's something you don't always see these days."
Match ends, Ayr United 1, Clyde 1.
Second Half ends, Ayr United 1, Clyde 1.
Matthew Flynn (Clyde) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Daryll Meggatt (Ayr United).
Foul by Conrad Balatoni (Ayr United).
Ross Perry (Clyde) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Corner,  Ayr United. Conceded by David Gormley.
Corner,  Ayr United. Conceded by Conor Quinn.
Attempt saved. Paul Cairney (Ayr United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top right corner.
Ross Docherty (Ayr United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Aaron Millar (Clyde).
Attempt missed. Alan Forrest (Ayr United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is just a bit too high.
Foul by Brian Gilmour (Ayr United).
David Gormley (Clyde) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Clyde. Aaron Millar replaces Peter MacDonald.
Daryll Meggatt (Ayr United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by David Gormley (Clyde).
Foul by Daryll Meggatt (Ayr United).
David Gormley (Clyde) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Corner,  Ayr United. Conceded by Philip Johnston.
Gary Harkins (Ayr United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Matthew Flynn (Clyde).
Paul Cairney (Ayr United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Peter MacDonald (Clyde).
Attempt missed. Daryll Meggatt (Ayr United) header from very close range misses to the left.
Corner,  Ayr United. Conceded by Martin McNiff.
Corner,  Ayr United. Conceded by Ross Perry.
Substitution, Clyde. Matthew Flynn replaces Scott Ferguson.
Attempt missed. Ross Docherty (Ayr United) right footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high.
Alan Forrest (Ayr United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Ewan McNeil (Clyde).
Goal!  Ayr United 1, Clyde 1. Paul Cairney (Ayr United) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal.
Corner,  Ayr United. Conceded by Philip Johnston.
Substitution, Ayr United. Alan Forrest replaces Craig McGuffie.
Sean Higgins (Clyde) hits the left post with a right footed shot from outside the box.
Corner,  Ayr United. Conceded by Chris Smith.
Corner,  Ayr United. Conceded by David Gormley.
Corner,  Ayr United. Conceded by Scott McLaughlin.
Attempt blocked. Gary Harkins (Ayr United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Sean Higgins (Clyde) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.


The BBC Proms, Britain's annual celebration of classical music, is to include music by David Bowie and a Strictly Come Dancing theme night.

The Strictly Prom, on 21 July, will be hosted by BBC Radio 3's Katie Derham, a finalist in last year's show.
Bowie will be honoured with a late-night Prom on 29 July, featuring Amanda Palmer and Anna Calvi, amongst others.
And the festival will temporarily abscond its home at the Royal Albert Hall for a concert in a car park.
Taking place in Peckham, south-east London, the open-air show will feature Christopher Stark and the Multi-Storey Orchestra performing works by minimalist composer Steve Reich.
The Proms' new director David Pickard said previous concerts at the venue, a disused municipal garage, had been "very exciting" and a departure from type of venues that typically host classical concerts.
"The demographic is completely unlike anything I've ever seen," he told BBC News, adding that the aim of his inaugural year was to present "the best of classical music to the widest possible audience".
Elsewhere, the Proms will pay tribute to French conductor and composer Pierre Boulez, who died in January aged 90.
The Ensemble Intercontemporain, which he founded, will present a programme of pieces he conducted during more than 40 years of appearances at the Proms on 2 September.
Other highlights from the 2016 programme include
Explore the full line-up on the BBC Proms website
The Bowie Prom is billed as a "celebration and reinterpretation" of the star's music "from right across the spectrum", overseen by Berlin-based collective s t a r g a z e.
"Bowie is one of those people who had a tremendous influence on musicians of all kinds," said Pickard. "I wanted to celebrate that and show just how versatile and extraordinary a song-maker he was."
The Strictly Prom will feature waltzes, foxtrots and tangos, as well as several of the professional dancers from the BBC One show.
"The music will be to the fore - but with lots of spangly things," said Radio 3's controller Alan Davey.
This year's festival includes more than 90 concerts, culminating in the world-famous Last Night on 10 September.
The grand finale will turn the spotlight on young musicians, with the Proms Youth Ensemble premiering a new work by Tom Harold, one of the winners of the BBC's young composers competition.
The concert will also feature Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez, alongside the traditional performances of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance and Rule, Britannia!
Although the Last Night is traditionally raucous, last year saw scenes reminiscent of a rock concert, as audience members threw underwear at German singer Jonas Kauffman.
"Will people throw throw their knickers at the front [again]? I suppose they might do," said Pickard. "But, you know, you're asking for it if you put Jonas Kauffman on stage on the Last Night."
"Bu look, the Last Night, as we all know, people get excited and it's a party atmosphere but what we tried to do with the Last Night this year is [have] the party atmosphere start in the second half, not right at the beginning."
More than 100,000 tickets for this year's festival will be available for £12.50 or less, although the price of the cheapest ticket has risen from £5 to £6.
Pickard said that, despite budget cuts across the BBC, the Proms had had its funding protected. The event costs £10 million to stage, half of which comes from the licence fee, with the rest raised via ticket sales.
All of the concerts will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3, with 26 filmed for television or iPlayer. Television coverage will be limited to Saturday nights during the Olympic Games in August, but a week-long series of concerts will be broadcast on BBC Four immediately after the games.