NHS snoopers must stay out of our private life
Enid Blyton wouldn’t have stood a chance against Cara
Following your front page story last week (‘Doctors ordered to ask: are you gay?’) I felt I had to write about my experience.
Having recently had a shoulder replacement and just completed the physiotherapy, I was asked to fill in a form expressing my satisfaction, which I was pleased to do as the service was excellent.
But the form also included questions concerning ethnicity and sexual orientation – and this made me extremely cross. The questions were totally irrelevant.
Why is precious NHS money being spent on such trivia?
J. Keay, Swaffham, Norfolk Whenever I am asked to give details about my sexual preference, I always tick the ‘Other’ box. If asked to elaborate, I say: ‘I can’t remember.’ If everyone did the same we could soon get rid of this nonsense.
Roger Lancaster, Bristol Questions such as these may be useful so that doctors can build up a better picture of their patient. For example, a lot of men don’t find it easy to speak about this sort of thing, even to close friends. Paul Maguire, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside My answer to any request about sexual orientation would be: ‘Go away, it’s not the business of the NHS.’ GPs must make it clear that not answering is a perfectly reasonable option. Unfortunately, most people will think that if their doctor asks them such a question they are obliged to reply. Kathryn Bennett, Reading As the NHS is so cash-strapped, doctors should not be asking if you are straight or gay, but they should be asking for proof of entitlement for treatment. If unable to do so, patients should be refused treatment. This would save millions of pounds a year.
No other country is such a soft touch. It is about time we started to look after our own people, rather than running the international service we have today. Mike Huntley, Poole You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but this is an extremely important issue. It will help to identify many issues that affect your physical and mental health. Recording this information allows doctors to treat you better with the right services. Doctors do this already based on your ethnicity, age and sex. It will also allow fairer allocation of NHS resources.
R. Davies, London If a patient’s sexual orientation is relevant to the patient’s symptoms then of course the GP needs to know. But that has to be the only reason. Otherwise why not ask everyone if they are vegetarian, watch football matches, drive a car, like fishing, go to church, or which political party they vote for? T. Jordan, North Yorkshire I honestly don’t see why people are so outraged. Paul Webster, Billingham, County Durham I salute Toby Young for addressing an issue that has been vexing me for months. So often you see a ‘celebrity’ receiving lots of free publicity (and a large financial reward) for designing a range of clothing or promoting their new perfume or fitness DVD. Now seems to be the season for people such as model Cara Delevingne (left) to write children’s books. I feel for professional writers and also ordinary folk who have no luck with publishers. Sue Storey, Eastbourne It’s unfair to genuine children’s authors. These celebrities should stick to what they’re best at – entertaining the public – and not try to be all things to all people. It’s hard enough to get published – J.K. Rowling didn’t find it easy initially, and Enid Blyton probably wouldn’t get a look-in today. P. Southern, Coleraine Cara Delevingne says she wants her novel to help teenagers cope with their emotions and talk about their mental health. You can’t deny that she is in a better place than most to reach more people with her social media presence. D. Thomas, London