April 24: NHS fat cats let down its caring staff

WE hear so much these days of the dire straits the NHS is supposed to be in, but my recent experience would suggest the problem perhaps lies with poor management, not the nursing staff.

Towards the end of 2014, I had occasion to be referred to Calderdale Hospital for clinical tests. While I felt the appointment system for the clinics left a lot to be desired, e.g many patients having exactly the same appointment time, the same could not be said of the theatre and nursing staff, when it became clear that surgery was solution to my problem.

I was admitted into hospital on April 17 for surgery. From the moment I arrived in the hospital early in the morning to my discharge the following afternoon, I was treated with excellence from all the members of staff. The surgeon, her registrar, the anesthetist, and theatre nurses were nothing short of wonderful. They explained everything to me, in language I could readily understand, even drawing diagrams to help my understanding. When it was clear I was very nervous, I was treated with gentleness and kindness.

So what do I mean by poor management? Wherever management were involved, I couldn’t help but see problems. I saw a theatre porter brought in for a full shift in order to transport one patient. A ward closed due to insufficient staff and patients forced to be moved to another ward. Couple that with awful appointment system and the “fat cat” wages we’ve just been told about and I just want to say the NHS has a problem with its management and not its healthcare staff.

From: John Watson, Leyburn.

WELL, now we know. While our politicians are all accusing each other for bleeding the NHS dry, it has all come out in the wash that the leeches in this business are not the dedicated staff, or the Government, or people abusing the system, but, as some of us have said all along, it is the hierarchy who run things, and who are bleeding it dry with their excessive salaries and expense accounts because they think that they are untouchable.

The NHS was set up after the war to enable British people to have free medical treatment, and it is the envy of the world. It was not meant to provide free treatment for people coming from abroad, and I don’t think it was to enable patients to have free cosmetic operations.

From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington.

IT has been revealed that the outgoing government has failed to control the NHS. So, how can we believe David Cameron that he is a man of the people, the sick and infirm?

He has permitted the high paid executives to rip off the NHS, while the nurses and doctors are being deprived of decent wages and working conditions.

From: Fred Tidball, Bradley, Huddersfield,

LABOUR not to blame? Ukip not the way? Oh dear, I seem to have rattled one or two cages of people whose middle-class sensibilities appear to be offended. I make no apology one way or another for my support of a party that says what it means and means what it says. The fact that people like David Cameron, Nigel Farage and the like come from privileged backgrounds, is not the issue, it is the fact that, over successive governments, both the Tories and Labour have continuously failed the British people and brought our once proud nation almost to its knees.

From: Jack Brown, Lamb Lane, Monk Bretton, Barnsley.

WHATEVER happened to the law, the BBC rule and the other media convention about balanced coverage of elections? An alien would think that Tory and Labour have privileged access and it would be right.

Ukip, with 13 per cent in the polls, is surely entitled to a third of the time granted to each. In this biased ball-game, it receives less coverage than a minor British party, the SNP, and the Greens. Not only is Ukip the only party speaking for at least half of the nation on Europe and immigration, but it is the only party whose promises have transparent funding. I suggest that it adds one other promise to its manifesto; that it will guarantee fair, proportionate air space to political parties when none is in government.

From: Ian Oglesby, Stamford Bridge, York.

MANY of our politicians have either a recent immigrant family history or strong European or Asian family connections and it is not surprising that they cannot empathise with British traditions and outlook. Of course, others have pensions due, having worked in Brussels, dependent on toeing the EU line.

What is surprising is that Ukip has gained a foothold, despite the pro-EU bias of the BBC and attacks from some commercially orientated organisations. I can find nothing wrong with the ambition to revert to a trade agreement in Europe and shake-off the political domination on which we have never had a vote.

From: Hilary Andrews, Leeds.

ED Miliband and his crew are forever telling us that only the super- rich have benefitted from five years of Conservative government. I was in the Trinity Centre in Leeds and the Trafford Centre in Manchester this last weekend. Both malls were crowded with shoppers, all carrying bags from the various stores. If Ed is right, there must be thousands of super rich in Leeds and Manchester. No bad thing, I say.