NHS cuts have exacerbated the obesity crisis

sir – During the Eighties and Nineties, I worked as a school nurse in north London. My colleagues and I visited both junior and senior schools weekly, monitoring children’s heights and weights, and we carried out visual and audio testing each year, referring on if necessary. We also held healthy eating weeks, sun awareness campaigns, vaccinations and, for seniors, sex education and counselling.

This superb service was scrapped by 2000, as all children were deemed “healthy” by the Hall Reports. We saw the obesity crisis approaching – and are now reaping the results. Kate Pearce

East Chinnock, Somerset

sir – There are internet sites where unwanted disability-aid equipment is offered or requested, but the NHS retains ownership of all equipment, even if it does not accept it back.

What cannot be returned must be free to pass on. Sue Doughty

Reading, Berkshire

sir – That the NHS requires fax machines to function is indicative of a “can’t do” not a “can do” culture.

If the Health Secretary is to achieve a truly digital NHS, he must treat it as the number one priority. Dennis Bacon

Executive chairman, Pulse UK Norwich

sir – Before offering large financial inducements for Australian GPS to move here, the NHS should ask what has persuaded thousands of British doctors to move the other way. Dr John Doherty

Stratford-upon-avon, Warwickshire