Net zero and the NHS

SIR – I commend your excellent article about the NHS’s net-zero drive (report, March 15). This government initiative is not only going to cost people a lot of money; it is now also likely to endanger our health.

I live in Norfolk, the fifth largest county in England, and in many parts a return trip to the nearest A&E is more than the 70 miles cited as the average range of electric ambulances.

Your figures suggest that patient transport accounts for a tiny fraction of the NHS’s emissions. Adopting electric ambulances in rural areas is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Eamon Lambert

Tharston, Norfolk

SIR – With regard to the recent criticism of physician associates (report, March 8), it is well known that we have a shortage of doctors in Britain – both GPs and hospital doctors. While we “borrow” doctors from abroad (at vast expense), this is not a long-term solution.

Steps are being taken to increase the number of doctors who qualify in Britain, but it will take many years (20? 30?) before we reach the levels required to deal with the ever growing number of patients. There is a need to fill the gap in the short- to mediumterm, and the chosen route is to train physician associates to deal with the more humdrum ailments from which most patients suffer, and which clog up the system.

I admit I have a vested interest: my daughter recently qualified as a physician associate, and is working in a GP practice in London. She is supervised by a senior GP, and all patients are informed that they are seeing a physician associate rather than a doctor, as a result of the triage system in place.

It is true that some physician associates make mistakes – but so do many doctors. The real problem here is one of an overstretched health service struggling to come up with ways to improve provision.

Edward Aitchison

Corbridge, Northumberland