The NHS needs to focus on waiting lists – not flexible working schemes
sir – Amanda Pritchard, the head of NHS England, says menopausal women working in the health service will be allowed to work from home (report, November 23).
This is despite the fact that the NHS is in turmoil, and staff shortages are a major factor. Ms Pritchard’s thinking is that it will benefit the service in the longer term. But menopause doesn’t just last for six weeks, or six months – it can go on for years. Are frontline nurses and other medical and auxiliary staff to be included in this deal? If so, how will it work?
Thankfully, there is now medical help for women going through the menopause, as well as more understanding of the condition, enabling most women in this situation to work through it. That said, Ms Pritchard’s idea of lighter uniforms is excellent – though who needs lighter uniforms when working from home? Joyce Bellingham
Hassocks, West Sussex
sir – In one sentence Amanda
Pritchard destroys her case for allowing menopausal women to have flexibility in their working patterns: “Menopause is not a health condition, it’s a stage of life.”
Unfortunately, the people most likely to suffer from the absence of a large cohort of middle-aged women in the NHS have life-threatening health conditions such as cancer, heart disease and others that leave them with very little flexibility.
Eve Wilson
Hill Head, Hampshire
sir – Could Amanda Pritchard now explain how she plans to reduce the horrendous backlog of patients awaiting vital treatment, and when we might all be able to expect to regain face-to-face access to our GPS?
David Kerr
Sutton Bonington, Leicestershire
sir – How refreshing to read Allison Pearson’s positive suggestions for improving the NHS (Features, November 23). As a general practitioner in the 1980s I had a system whereby any patient who thought they needed to be seen could come to the surgery the same day (Letters, November 23). An evening surgery absorbed all comers.
I realise that general practice has changed beyond all recognition. But as frustrating as this is for the patient, it must be equally frustrating for the conscientious GP.
Dr Peter Strangeways
Warminster, Wiltshire
sir – I recently retired from general practice.
When I started, almost 40 years ago, the job was about giving advice. Today, it is necessary to “sell” the same advice and justify it in writing to prevent potential complaints from the entitled customers. It now takes two or three times as long to do the same job, and these increased patient demands have resulted in reduced GP access and longer working hours.
Dr Andy Ashworth