We’re having to dial 999 because we can’t see a GP
AS VICAR of two village parishes, I hear the same story from people who are trying to see their GP. They are told there are no appointments for the next fortnight and they can’t book in advance.
To stand any chance of getting an appointment, they have to ring at 8am to be allotted a space on a first-come, first-served basis.
They have to sit with their finger poised over the re-dial button and hope they are one of the lucky people to get through.
My 15-year- old son had two cardiac arrests last March, and though he’s made a full recovery, he has been having pains in his chest and needs to be checked out. We tried to get an appointment at our GP practice, but as my parishioners report, there were none available.
As a community first responder with the Ambulance Service, I am often dispatched to patients in my parish along with a rapid response vehicle and an ambulance. Many of these calls do not need all of those resources: what the patient really requires is to see their GP.
They tell us they couldn’t get an appointment, so they dialled 999. This is a major cause for the crisis the NhS is experiencing.
The health Secretary continually tries to reassure us, but clearly that isn’t being translated into action. There is no sign that the NhS is getting better.
Rev MARK EDWARDS, Dinnington, Tyne & Wear.
What voters want
WhAT a splendid speech by Boris Johnson. however, all these Brexit speeches could be condensed into what the voters in this country want, which is what we desired originally: a military alliance and a Common Market.
We never imagined we’d end up with a council of ministers, unelected commissioners and our laws subservient to eU courts.
MURIEL THoMPSoN, Greenock, Renfrewshire. The public is crying out for a speech on Brexit with some fire in its belly: Churchillian blood, toil, sweat and tears and Thatcherite handbagging, a show of resoluteness and strength in the face of eU aggression.
SANDRA HAYWooD, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Notts. WeLL done, Boris. We’re constantly told by the Remainers that those voting Leave were misled by the red bus. But how many voters were misled by Project Fear?
TED STICKLEY, Barnstaple, Devon.
Driven to despair
SCRAPYARD UK (Mail) is no surprise to me.
Two vehicles without MoTs, road tax or insurance have been dumped in my cul-de-sac. I reported this to the police, who told me nothing could be done until the vehicles trigger an automatic number plate recognition camera.
As one hasn’t moved for three years and the other for a year, they are clearly abandoned and will not be passing any cameras.
I informed the DVLA, which has not responded. And the council told me that as the vehicles belong to locals, it is unable to move them — and I should inform the police.
Name and address supplied.
Charities in crisis
hAVING worked in several countries in receipt of foreign aid, I have seen the corruption, waste and misuse of British taxpayers’ money and the arrogance of the staff running various agencies.
After the scandal at Oxfam, why not divert funds to the British Legion and help for heroes? The men and women who defend us without question deserve no less.
J. DEAKIN, W. Mids. IT’S not the offences by a minority of charity field staff that are unacceptable, but senior management’s attempt to cover them up. Without honest disclosure, there can be no future for any charity.
DAVID SPENCER, Bridge, Kent.
Broken promises
We WeRe told privately owned utilities would bring competition to the marketplace, be more efficient and drive costs down.
What has happened is that gas, water, electric and rail travel have all increased in price. Not one has provided a more efficient service.
CoLIN RoGAN, address supplied.
Party games
IS PARLIAMeNT fit for purpose? The Labour Party is involved in an ideological experiment. The Tories seem to think we need to be protected from ourselves because they know best.
The Liberal Democrats are desperate to be different. The DUP shake your hand while holding out the other for money. And the SNP think they will get a bigger handout from the eU. W. RoLLINSoN, Ferndown, Dorset. TheRe seems to be common agreement among the political parties that the UK should top the list of countries giving overseas aid, be at the bottom of the list when it comes to a state pension, and that the people of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland should be given more government money than the english.
I think I might feel just as apathetic when it comes to voting at the next general election. SIDNEY REDHEAD,
Grimsby, Lincs. A ReFeReNDUM for each country of the UK to be truly independent ( Letters)? This would surely mean the end of the Barnett formula payments from the central exchequer to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
england should vote ‘ Yes’ in such a referendum.
BARRY GREEN, Yateley, Hants.
Old-fashioned lesson
I WAS brought up in a prefab and we only had a metal dustbin (Letters). Most of our rubbish went on the living room fire.
As children, we would take old newspapers on our homemade trailer — an old ironing board with four pre-war pram wheels — to a local shop, where we got half a crown for them.
We’d also collect glass bottles for the deposit refund, so why don’t they do this with plastic bottles?
VALERIE JoRDAN, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. I USeD to love the ritual of greengrocer shopping with a spud bag — a leatherette carrier into which all the vegetables would be tipped once they had been weighed by the shop assistant.
Fast forward to today and the plastic wrapping that suffocates fresh food. have we become too posh for a humble spud bag?
H. GEE, Southport, Merseyside.