A brave whistleblower

Professor J, Meirion Thomas is highlighting NhS faults which, if he didn’t bring them to public attention (Mail), would never be heard of.

I asked to see a female doctor who had treated me before, but was told she was booked up for two weeks; she works only part-time.

My wife attended the royal Marsden’s breast cancer clinic annually for 15 years. We used to see virtually the same staff every year and they were wonderful, but for 12 of those years they were operating in a mobile unit in the car park.

There were rumours at the time that the hospital would be closed down – which seemed ludicrous to me. A distinguished elderly lady who worked there as a volunteer was most concerned about what would happen to the £26 million which had been raised for the hospital by high-profile personalities.

Luckily, the closure didn’t happen, but before the breast clinic was moved back inside, a conference centre was built, with a marbled bathroom for the chairman of the trust and a vastly expensive monogrammed carpet which the ordinary staff weren’t allowed to tread on.

Money was simply wasted on nonmedical vanity projects. The staff were very concerned about this but didn’t dare voice their worries.

It’s only through people like Prof Thomas that the NhS will get the shake-up it needs. It may be ‘the best in the world’ but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.

IAN VERDON, Watford, Herts.