Broken NHS

SIR – While playing football on Wednesday evening I was knocked unconscious. No foul was given and the referee waved play on.

Unfortunately, in my confused state I was unable to play on and was driven to Aintree Hospital A&E department. On checking in at 7:35pm I was told there was a nine-hour wait to be seen. I felt awful but I reasoned that I wasn’t dying, so decided the dire prospect of waiting in A&E until 4:35am was less attractive than any risk I had of some undiagnosed injury, and showed A&E the red card by being driven home.

I was then propped up in bed with what felt like the mother of all hangovers but at least I was not sitting in A&E on a plastic chair wearing a surgical mask.

The moral of this story: whatever you do, don’t get ill or have an accident, as the NHS is broken. Jeffrey Edwards

Melling, Lancashire