Letters..

Healing pain

IN RESPONSE to your article about chronic pain patients not being seen in the target time, I don’t vote SNP but they can’t take all the blame.

When my pain started, Margaret Thatcher was in office and Labour have been in power within this timescale.

I’ve suffered constant groin and hip pain since 1985. I was told to “cut back the length of my step” and take painkillers. I was informed that my hip was starting to crumble and I possibly needed an operation. I’ve had X-rays, scans, taken thousands of painkillers and been the doctor many times. In December 2016, the pain flared up to unbearable proportions and I was in tears a number of times. The doctor offered a hip replacement and I was put forward for surgery on February 10.

Very fortunately, I received a cancellation at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank and had the operation on April 22.

Apart from still being a bit sore from the surgery, my 32 years of pain have gone. It makes my twilight years much better. Thanks go to the NHS at last.

Marion Marshall, Edinbugh

Plane old rip-off

HAVING just booked and paid for a family holiday I was aghast to find I would have to pay an additional £70 per passenger for the privilege of sitting together. This is sheer exploitation as the airlines know families want to sit together, especially with children.

Could I therefore ask that our new Parliament legislates to end this sharp practice and protects consumers from what can only be described as corporate greed. Jim Sheridan, Erskine,

Renfrewshire