Scottish Daily Mail

Is the NHS over-staffed or just badly organised?

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I HAVE been hospitalis­ed three times in the past ten years and although I cannot grumble about the care I received, one very obvious thing stood out — no one appeared to be in charge. Most of the work fell to the few most willing hands. These few were rushed off their feet while others were standing about chatting and laughing, etc. There were clear signs of resentment among the ‘workers’ and words were exchanged on occasion but nothing changed. Such behaviour can only lead to low morale and will obviously mean errors in the way in which people are treated. I don’t believe that this kind of situation was common before the National Health Service had so many highly paid civilian managers. The doctors and matrons were in charge then.

BRIAN FOSTER, Walsall, West Mids. CRITICISM of the NHS often includes much of the usual patient rant which those of us who work in Britain’s hospitals find so demoralisi­ng. I do wish we had the ‘loads of staff’ who are supposedly standing around chatting. I wish we even had time to go to the toilet on a busy shift. on the plus side, we do have a lot of grateful patients, who tell us how much they appreciate the work we do and the care we give them. and for that reason, we carry on.

ANGELA COX, Fordingbri­dge, Hants. IT SEEMS fashionabl­e to criticise the NHS and there is a danger that when one person recounts a bad experience in one hospital all hospitals and clinics will be tarred with the same brush. My experience was completely different. With my chest infection getting progressiv­ely worse, my wife telephoned our GP for help. Our doctor spoke to me on the phone, then promised to be with me in 30 minutes — and she was. She sent me to A&E in Bath. From the consultant­s through to the doctors, nurses and the cleaning staff, I felt that they were all working to a common objective. At no time did I see people standing around chatting and I have nothing but praise for all the hard-working staff.

RAY SMITH, Holcombe, Somerset.

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