The Army way

SIR – Simon Heffer’s praise of our Armed Forces in filling the gap when other services fail (Comment, April 26) prompts me to point out that the Army has a tried and tested system of training senior officers, which has proved itself over the centuries.

I am reminded of an extract from Adam Sisman’s biography of John le Carré, in which the novelist describes his experience of national service in the Army: “An underlying principle of officer training was (and remains) constant competition at every level, whether between individuals, platoons or companies.”

Unfortunately, this does not apply to other public services. Our police service, for example, has an institutional resistance to performance comparisons.

John Kenny Acle, Norfolk

SIR – When I qualified in medicine in the Sixties, the NHS was run much like a military organisation. Indeed, the service was young, and many of the staff had been in the military. Everyone in the medical and nursing teams was fully aware of the line of command and discipline was firm. The senior officers – the medical consultants – could make decisions without referral to administrators and their word was followed.

I remember a case in which a woman with acute liver failure developed dying, black fingers. The medical team hit on the idea of providing hyperbaric oxygen in an attempt to save her fingers, and within a couple of days a machine arrived from British Aerospace, without the need for a lengthy approval procedure from administrators.

The woman’s hands improved, but sadly she died from liver failure. However, I have never forgotten this unusual approach to treatment, and the speed with which it was delivered.

Dr MC Moore Borehamwood, Hertfordshire