Fatal NHS errors

SIR – When TSB had a major IT incident resulting in inconvenience to some customers, the chief executive lost £2 million of bonus payments.

Following the NHS failure (“Fatal flaw in health service IT system went undetected for a decade”, report, May 3), which of its executives will sacrifice a bonus or pension entitlement?

I fear we know the answer, as there appears to be a different approach to accountability in the public sector. Graham Hoyle

Shipley, West Yorkshire

SIR – I have a letter from 2014 from the West Sussex Breast Screening Service stating: “Women over the age of 70 will no longer automatically be invited for screening. However, they can still make an appointment, provided three years have passed since their last mammogram, by telephoning this office.”

My friends and I, all in this age bracket, have managed our own repeat screening since then.

Is the West Sussex service more efficient than others, or is it a question of individuals taking responsibility for monitoring their own health checks? Hilary Sherwin-smith

Horsham, West Sussex

SIR – It is tragic if 270 women died prematurely because they were not called for screening but, according to NHS breast cancer screening statistics, 810 women have been spared unnecessary treatment with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Dr Dora Henry

Stratford-upon-avon, Warwickshire

SIR – It is a scandal that hundreds of women may have lost their lives through bungled cancer screening.

What of the many thousands – possibly millions – who have died prematurely because of late diagnosis of their condition?

Survival rates for several illnesses in Britain, particularly cancer, compare badly with those of other Western countries. Waiting weeks to see a GP or months for an operation is unheard of in countries with no monolithic, state-run, uniondominated health system. Ron Forrest

Wells, Somerset