NHS close to capacity; please give it a fighting chance – Yorkshire Post Letters

WHETHER it’s Covid or cancer, we are extremely worried that there may not be the capacity in our health service to provide care for everyone who needs it if the infection rates continue to soar.

Our NHS and its staff are already at the point of collapse; with many hospitals full to capacity at the very start of the busy winter period, these tougher measures are necessary to give the health service a fighting chance to cope with the incredible demand it is experiencing and will likely continue to.

Doctors are telling us they’re already seeing significant increases in the number of Covid and non-Covid patients, and that they don’t believe their hospitals or practices will be able to cope in the new year.

What’s crucial to understand is that when we talk about protecting the NHS, this is not an abstract concept, a set of initials or a building somewhere.

The NHS provides care for us all, when we most need it. If it doesn’t cope, the consequences impact on each and every one of us; real people will suffer.

We all wanted to have some semblance of Christmas this year but given the latest developments, particularly with the emergence of this new faster- spreading strain, the best thing we can do now is stay at home to protect ourselves and our loved ones this year.

There is some hope that in a few months the vaccination programme will allow family, relatives and friends to mix together once again.

From: Michael Green, Tingley.

FOR some weeks Boris Johnson has been insisting that nothing is going to make him change the Christmas visiting arrangements which he had announced.

He turned on those who disagreed, accusing them of wanting to abolish Christmas. And then, on Saturday afternoon, out of the blue, he changed everything.

Not only did he single-handedly destroyed the arrangements which many people have made for meeting up with long-separated relatives – he has in fact made it worse.

And why has he done it? Because, like a coward, he has given way to the people who shout loudest. The people who didn’t want freedom of choice to happen at all.

From: Stephen Crees, Pontefract.

THERE is no doubt that the Covid crisis has pushed the NHS to near breaking point this year. It was always going to be a difficult situation, but it has not helped having a shortage of hospital beds.

We have seen over the last 10 years the number of beds in the Wakefield district reduced by over 400. This is at a time when the population has grown by over 10 per cent. You don’t have to be Florence Nightingale to see if you cut bed capacity by half it will be difficult.

From: Irene Crawshaw, Leeds.

WHY are there still many shoppers and staff in stores not wearing face coverings? I understand some people are exempt, but security/door staff do not even challenge shoppers. I understood that this was mandatory.

From: Jenifer Devlin, Northfield Road, Dewsbury.

THE House of Lords recently passed amendments to the Trade Bill to protect our NHS in trade deals and to allow

Parliament to scrutinise future deals before they are approved.

My MP, Mark Eastwood (Dewsbury), previously voted against similar amendments, which he claims are unnecessary. Does he know more than the House of Lords? In January, he will have the chance to vote again. I am asking him, for all our sakes, to vote to protect our precious NHS.

He claims to be a supporter of the NHS; very soon he will have the opportunity to demonstrate that to his constituents in Dewsbury.

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