We are fortunate to have NHS Scotland

Sir, – After decades, during which my closest contact with NHS Scotland involved visits to friends and relatives, I found myself in need of major surgery, and over the last few months, I’ve had contact with the Queen Margaret, Dunfermline, the Victoria, Kirkcaldy, and the Western General and Royal in Edinburgh.

My experience has been most enlightening and has also involved the Ambulance Service and post-operative care from the OT Nurse and a team of district nurses.

All have been excellent.

In Intensive Care, I was made to feel I was the most important patient in the hospital, if not the world!

We are indeed fortunate.

In Kirkcaldy we have the Queen’s Surgeon as a consultant, and in Edinburgh, a brilliant team of young surgeons who regularly perform world class operations.

Throughout my illness I have enjoyed a level of dedication, care and compassion which extended beyond me to my family and is perhaps best described in Hemingway’s phrase as “grace under pressure”.

I also discovered that student nurses in Scotland receive annual grants of £6,000 to see them through a threeyear course, whereas our friends down south receive nothing.

An immediate pay rise of 3% was granted whilst I was in hospital, (still not enough), but comparing well with the 6% spread over four years down south.

This is why I find it offensive, if not loathsome, to put up with the savage criticism of NHS Scotland, so often prevalent in the media, and there for purely political reasons.

Joseph G Miller. 44 Gardeners Street, Dunfermline.

Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, one of many places a correspondent received excellent care from NHS Scotland staff.