Don’t expect the Army to run hospitals, as these would have to rely on the NHS for staffing

sir – I see that the World Health Organisation has suggested that Britain should use the Army to build field hospitals to ease the strain on the NHS (report, March 9).

Regular Army field hospitals are staffed at cadre levels and would have to call in staff from other units. Almost all their doctors, nursing and technical staff work at NHS facilities. To remove them would increase the workload of the NHS staff there.

Reserve Army (once known as the TA) hospitals are manned almost entirely by volunteers who work in the NHS. Their use would, for the same reasons, deplete the NHS of staff.

So the Armed Services could equip medical isolation facilities, but with very limited medical, nursing and technical staffing.

Until a few years ago, unoccupied military camps could have been used as medical or isolation facilities. But these have either been completely run down, sold off to the private sector or demolished. Or they are now occupied by units that have relocated out of

Germany. So much for the leaner, meaner, slimline military.

Roger T Simpson

Northampton

sir – My 91-year-old mother has mild dementia and lives at home alone. She is supported by daily visits from my brother, weekly visits from me, twice-weekly visits from her cleaner, and a daily check by council carers.

Without this input she will be unable to function. If we are all required to self-isolate, she will have no food, no money, no clean clothes, no clean dishes, and be unable to watch television, as she often presses the wrong buttons and disables the set until someone sorts it out for her.

According to official information, should the situation worsen she is exactly the sort of vulnerable person we should not visit, in order to protect her from coronavirus.

I consider she is far more at risk from removal of her support network than she is from any virus, and I do not plan to make any change to the arrangements. There must be thousands of families in this situation.

Dr Hilary Aitken

Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire

sir – I run a small pastoral support group through our church. We look after the elderly who live alone with little family support and who do not drive. We visit regularly, help with picking up prescriptions, offer to shop for those who have recently returned from hospital, and I am sure we would do so for anyone self-quarantining.

By the way, I am 80.

Wendy Tanqueray

Esher, Surrey

sir – We are told that the elderly will soon be advised to isolate themselves at home. But thousands of the elderly have working offspring living with them. Huge numbers of young parents also rely on grandparents to look after their children while they are at work.

What are they all supposed to do?

Bearsted, Kent sir – The Government advises us to wash our hands. This is almost impossible on trains, even the most modern, as water often cannot be obtained from the tap in the lavatories.

David Muir

Bristol

sir – We spent a jolly Saturday evening playing bridge with 10 friends. We won the prize for the top score and were delighted and surprised when our wonderful hostess handed us ... three loo rolls.

Lulu and Doug Colliver

Stokenham, Devon

sir – I went into our local hosiery shop looking to buy some socks and was told there was a shortage as people had been stockpiling.

Roger Coombs

Maidenhead, Berkshire

sir – A local butcher is advertising: “Panic buyers welcome here.”

Roger Wardle

East Horsley, Surrey