The wonder of Wayfarers

WE HAD occasion to visit our home town recently and were hugely impressed with the decking out of the Wayfarers Arcade.

It even inspired us to spend money.

You should be very proud of such a wonderful Christmas feature in the town. Well done to all concerned. We hope the tills keep ringing and have a very happy Christmas. Graham and Pat Thompson

Cheshire

A&E NEEDS OVERHAUL

HAVING read your article (Tuesday, November 22 edition) regarding the proposed closure of the A&E at certain times, to my mind it is short sighted in the extreme, and this proposed closure will not save any money whatsoever.

Mind you, the bosses of the NHS must have found a way to control when accidents and emergencies are allowed to happen, I think not.

But we, the public, have a great role, and say, in the changes needed in the A&E departments.

Accidents should be as the dictionary says “accident” not a bit of a bruise on little Jimmy’s or Sofie’s leg.

Emergencies are exactly as stated, a disaster such as a gas explosion or a major car accident or a fireman badly burned, these are emergencies.

It is time to take a radical view on how A&E departments are managed and the services they offer should be strictly controlled.

As a starter in a shopping list for change and not that stupid “Sustainability & Transformation Plan” which means diddly-squat to the public. So in my shopping list for change, the A&E staff should only be allowed to book in a true accident or emergency. No more of this misuse by the public as an easy way to bypass their GPs.

The GPs have over the years faced many changes to their system of work, what the GPs want is sustainability with stability to let them work closely with the hospitals and get patients back to the GPs.

I fully agree that “Health Tourism” is coming to an end, but the A&E departments must make their managers operate on the front line, stop hiding away having meetings that don’t help the front line.

They should be seeking a proper identification of people wanting A&E services.

If you are brought in by ambulance, well that is a different story.

But walk-ins that have no National Insurance number, no travel insurance and who is a visitor to our country, then, like in America, Canada and most of the EU, especially Spain, get your credit cards out.

We in this country have got to stop being soft, everybody else is business minded, why should we not only have to take our E111 card but also take out travel/holiday insurance, yet people who come to our country don’t bother getting any sort of insurance as we are an easy touch.

So before anymore cuts in the NHS services that the public have already paid for and are still paying for, then the Government should be making noises at the point of entry into this country, asking the question, have you got medical insurance? If not you will have to pay for any medical services.

The reasons, in my view that the NHS is in such a mess are:

A) Very poor management that doesn’t run the NHS system for those who have paid into it all their working lives, who are now not getting what they paid for, reducing their chances of care.

B) Too many people using the system that have never paid a penny into the National Insurance system.

C) Stop fiddling with the GPs, but get them working closer with the hospitals. John Brookes, Via email

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