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| Ambulances waiting at A&E is an outrage | Ambulances waiting at A&E is an outrage |
| (7 days later) | |
| Letters | |
| Mon 8 Jan 2018 19.09 GMT | |
| Last modified on Mon 8 Jan 2018 22.00 GMT | |
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| A health service in which it is common to wait more than an hour for treatment, or to wait any time at all to be taken from the ambulance, is in crisis. An ambulance service that, except in case of a major incident, has no ambulance immediately available when an urgent call comes in is in crisis. A hospital that has no bed available when a patient arrives is in crisis. | A health service in which it is common to wait more than an hour for treatment, or to wait any time at all to be taken from the ambulance, is in crisis. An ambulance service that, except in case of a major incident, has no ambulance immediately available when an urgent call comes in is in crisis. A hospital that has no bed available when a patient arrives is in crisis. |
| The NHS is broken. At 83, I’m old enough to remember how things were before the NHS was set up. I can remember the difference it made to almost everyone. It was designed not just as a safety net but to eliminate the need for, and advantages of, private medicine. For some time it did so. What is nowadays taken as normal working should be seen as an outrage. I witnessed the start of the NHS but am becoming increasingly worried that I will not be too old to see its demise.Ernest BoughtonWoking, Surrey | The NHS is broken. At 83, I’m old enough to remember how things were before the NHS was set up. I can remember the difference it made to almost everyone. It was designed not just as a safety net but to eliminate the need for, and advantages of, private medicine. For some time it did so. What is nowadays taken as normal working should be seen as an outrage. I witnessed the start of the NHS but am becoming increasingly worried that I will not be too old to see its demise.Ernest BoughtonWoking, Surrey |
| • I returned from Arrowe Park hospital, Wirral, two days ago, having been treated for pneumonia and sepsis. Even though still obviously weak and ill, I felt strongly that I must write to Jeremy Hunt to express my outrage and horror at this government’s treatment of the NHS and its wonderful staff. The care, dedication and professionalism, the kindness and patience, the calm reassurance of all the staff who cared for me were a revelation. How they maintain such extraordinary high standards under so much pressure, working such long hours, is miraculous. | • I returned from Arrowe Park hospital, Wirral, two days ago, having been treated for pneumonia and sepsis. Even though still obviously weak and ill, I felt strongly that I must write to Jeremy Hunt to express my outrage and horror at this government’s treatment of the NHS and its wonderful staff. The care, dedication and professionalism, the kindness and patience, the calm reassurance of all the staff who cared for me were a revelation. How they maintain such extraordinary high standards under so much pressure, working such long hours, is miraculous. |
| They are heroes. Why is this government slowly and insidiously trying to destroy the NHS? Why do they treat its staff with so little value and respect? I am overcome with distress and anxiety thinking about my children and my grandchildren. Will there be an NHS to look after them? What can we do to save the NHS from this uncaring, uncompassionate, unfeeling government?Pauline SallisNess, Wirral | They are heroes. Why is this government slowly and insidiously trying to destroy the NHS? Why do they treat its staff with so little value and respect? I am overcome with distress and anxiety thinking about my children and my grandchildren. Will there be an NHS to look after them? What can we do to save the NHS from this uncaring, uncompassionate, unfeeling government?Pauline SallisNess, Wirral |
| • Your NHS editorial (3 January) did not address the overall cause of the crisis: namely the seven-year austerity programme the Tories have imposed on the NHS and the £22bn savings they are still hoping to achieve. Please be far more assertive in your coverage of the NHS. You are letting the government off the hook for a disaster that is entirely of their making. I write this as someone awaiting a consultant orthopaedic appointment this month with potential surgery if it is deemed necessary.Anne KeatCorsham, Wiltshire | • Your NHS editorial (3 January) did not address the overall cause of the crisis: namely the seven-year austerity programme the Tories have imposed on the NHS and the £22bn savings they are still hoping to achieve. Please be far more assertive in your coverage of the NHS. You are letting the government off the hook for a disaster that is entirely of their making. I write this as someone awaiting a consultant orthopaedic appointment this month with potential surgery if it is deemed necessary.Anne KeatCorsham, Wiltshire |
| • So Jeremy Hunt says there is no crisis in the NHS because there is a plan. Was it part of the plan that I could get no ambulance to come to my son, who had been in severe abdominal pain for 36 hours, on 1 January? I was told no ambulances were available. I had to drive him to A and E, while he was shouting with pain, with my four-year-old granddaughter sitting scared in the back. He was later operated on for a burst appendix. I hope Mr Hunt sleeps well at night.Glynis MurphyWadhurst, Kent | • So Jeremy Hunt says there is no crisis in the NHS because there is a plan. Was it part of the plan that I could get no ambulance to come to my son, who had been in severe abdominal pain for 36 hours, on 1 January? I was told no ambulances were available. I had to drive him to A and E, while he was shouting with pain, with my four-year-old granddaughter sitting scared in the back. He was later operated on for a burst appendix. I hope Mr Hunt sleeps well at night.Glynis MurphyWadhurst, Kent |
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