Cross-party complicity in the NHS’S downfall

SIR – I agree with James Bartholomew (telegraph.co.uk, March 6) – the NHS is now a national disgrace.

When I was a GP in the 1970s, we saw every patient on the same day or the next. If they could not get to the practice we visited them – even at night, and on weekends and bank holidays. If we suspected that a patient had cancer, we could arrange for them to be seen by a consultant within days. Patients received personal, continuous care. It was stressful but satisfying, for both the patient and the doctor.

This has all been destroyed by successive governments, who have put managers rather than clinicians in control of patient care, and form-filling before medical expertise. I do not have an answer to this problem – but at my age, I may not be around too long to suffer under a failed system.

Dr Peter I Vardy

Runcorn, Cheshire

SIR – My mother, who is 90, was in hospital for a week with a kidney infection, then cleared for discharge. (Let’s skirt over the 24 hours she spent on a trolley waiting to be seen, or 12 hours waiting for an ambulance.) When she finally left, she asked for the pills that she had taken with her, but was told this was not allowed. She came home in an ambulance – followed by a taxi, which brought her pills. Reason? Cost?

Geoff Greatorex

Freshwater, Isle of Wight

SIR – When my wife and I visit Australia, we see a specialist to check for cancers. We arrived last Friday; my wife had an appointment and some on-the-spot treatment on Tuesday, with a follow-up appointment yesterday. Yes, it costs a little money, but it’s done immediately.

Ted Franke

Wexham, Buckinghamshire