Heart unit cuts are no ‘improvement’

From: Colin Richardson, Garden Mews, Brandesburton, East Yorkshire.

IT is with amazement that I read (Yorkshire Post, July 3) that the NHS officials hailed the decision to cut the number of heart surgery units from 10 to seven as landmark and an improvement to the quality of care. Yes it is landmark but not in the sense they make it. If they had increased the number of units by three then that would have been landmark and an improvement in care.

As a person who spent a great deal of time driving each week to both Newcastle and Liverpool, I only hope that there are no emergency transfers during peak times, or when it snows, to either destination as the results could be fatal. Even for a minor accident the police have been known to close both routes for hours.

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Logic would decree that the units be located in the highest catchment area. You only have to draw a 50/60 mile circle around Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle to determine the best location.

Is this decision being taken under the new NHS regime or the old one? In either case, it does not bode well for the future of the NHS.

From: David T Craggs, Tunstall, East Yorkshire.

ALTHOUGH I agree with some of the sentiments expressed by Malcolm Naylor in his letter (Yorkshire Post, July 9) I wonder what he meant by “tear down the citadels of the Establishment”. I hope he didn’t mean act like the rioters in the capital and other major cities in August last year.

Regarding the children’s heart unit decision, there is another approach, or rather two. There is an expression that I haven’t heard for many a year “serving notice”. Maybe organisations don’t serve notice any more.

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Headteachers used to serve notice to unruly pupils that their behaviour would not be tolerated. The police served notice to drink drivers that they would be caught and prosecuted.

Maybe they still do, but no longer use this expression.

Well, I want to resurrect the expression. I want all the people of Yorkshire to serve notice to all those local MPs who have failed to support the Leeds Heart Unit remaining open, informing them that if the decision to close the unit is not reversed every single one of them will lose their seat at the next election.

I also want the people of Yorkshire to serve notice to the Government that the Leeds unit will not be closing, and if necessary will go it alone with the support of the millions who live within the county’s boundaries.

Finally, I would like to see those responsible for the running of the Leeds unit to do a “costing” of what it would take to keep it open. Let’s serve notice to the Government that we in the White Rose County are not prepared to be dictated to on such an important issue.

Take charge of Olympic fiasco

From: Peter Neil Taylor, Magnolia Close, Driffield.

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YET another fiasco, this time over Olympic security. How convenient for the Prime Minister that this subject didn’t come to light during the last PMQs before the Games?

Where are Lord Coe and other Olympic big guns when something as serious as this obviously needs their attention?

With less than weeks to go before the opening, when will someone get a grip?

From: CD Round, Lee Lane East, Horsforth, Leeds.

CAN we assume that the Army personnel used for security at the Olympic Games will be paid substantial bonuses for working at the Games and that the security company will be charged by the Ministry of Defence for the personnel, plus a substantial deduction from the contract price, for their incompetence?

From: Arthur Quarmby, Holme, Holmfirth.

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We are told that some 3,000 British troops are to be withdrawn from Germany in order to police the Olympic Games.

Remind me, when did Germany surrender? Could it really be 68 years ago? And when did the Berlin Wall come down? 23 years ago? Why are our troops still in that country?