Home-grown doctors

SIR – Britain has had a shortage of doctors for at least 50 years, and has solved this by relying upon immigrant doctors from poorer countries (“Visa cap on foreign doctors to be lifted”, report, June 5).

How many British citizens have been excluded from a fulfilling career in medicine because the Government has been unable or unwilling to provide enough training places? It is time that a solution was found.

Martin Adams

Much Hadham, Hertfordshire

SIR – The Government is playing a dangerous game by indicating that visa caps should be placed on non-professionals such as farm and hotel workers.

We cannot operate without such people to fill the gaps in our labour market. Few British schoolchildren include farming or the service industries as part of their future employment plans.

A simple solution would be to issue temporary visas conferring no entitlement to benefits and no right to remain, irrespective of how long a person stays.

Paul Caruana

Truro, Cornwall