Not ageing but paying
SIR: I really must protest at Virginia Ironside’s comments about GPS and hospitals in general. I am 79 and over the years, in Liverpool, Warrington and Halton, I have received the best care possible. I know it is a nuisance trying to get a doctor’s appointment but that is a small price to pay for the excellent service available. One thing I do object to is the phrase ‘the ageing population’, as if we oldies are to blame for all the ills of the NHS. People seem to forget it is the ageing population who have paid most into the NHS. Barbara Warburton, Widnes, Cheshire.
SIR: So far, my visits to the quack are rare (I’m a firm follower of the P G Wodehouse adage ‘An apple a day, if well-aimed, keeps the doctor away’). But the last time I went, I noticed that, apart from a slight fluttering of the eyelids as I walked into his room, he spent the whole of our brief session staring at a computer screen. I mentioned this to my sister, who has more experience in these matters than I do, and she advised as follows: ‘As soon as you walk in, stride across to your prescriber [she actually called him “the pillock”] and seize him by the hand. You’ll find he never takes his eyes off you after that.’ I have not yet tested her advice; I comfort myself with apples. But my sister is most dependable. Anthony Weale, Frome, Somerset.