YP Letters: How to remedy the NHS '“ Post readers offer their reform prescriptions

I RECENTLY travelled up to Bradford intending to spend the Christmas holiday with relatives there. Unfortunately on the journey I suffered severe stomach pains and vomiting which got progressively worse, so that in the end my niece sent for an ambulance and I was taken to A&E at Bradford Roral Infirmary.

From there, I was moved into a ward where I spent the next week undergoing tests. I feel that in view of the many attacks on the NHS at the moment I should tell you that I found everyone at BRI, ambulance drivers, nurses and doctors, unfailingly kind and patient. Their unflappability under stress was outstanding, and I am very grateful for their kindness and care. They even managed to present everyone on the ward I was in with a small Christmas gift.

While waiting in A&E, we had to put up with a drunk in the next cubicle, shouting and swearing. I believe that at one time such characters were put into a police cell to sober up, but because the police now have a ‘duty of care’ they are brought to A&E.

Perhaps this policy should be reconsidered. There is really no need for hospital staff to be subject to their shouting and abuse and, as there is nothing they can do for them, a police cell is the most sensible place to put them.

From: Dr Glyn Powell, Bakersfield Drive, Kellington.

HAVING spent over four weeks in various West Yorkshire hospitals, I feel I must comment on the state of the NHS.

The frontline staff from registrars/consultant all the way down to ancilliary staff do excellent work and are totally committed and dedicated to looking after their patients, despite major problems thrown at them by misguided government policies.

To improve the situation the Government should:

1. Set up incentivised training schemes for British youngsters in all the aforementioned professions to reduce the need to employ foreign/EU workers.

2. Trigger Article 50 to withdraw immediately from the EU to stop NHS meagre resources being totally overwhelmed by uncontrolled immigration from eastern EU states.

These, not an ageing population, are the real causes of NHS difficulties.

To Jeremy Hunt I would say that, after waiting in Pinderfields A&E in a critical condition for 15 hours or a bed on a surgical ward and seeing dedicated staff pushed to the limit, working long hours: Tell the truth to the nation and start to fix the NHS, instead of waiting until it falls apart so it can be easier to privatise it.

From: Bob Watson, Springfield Road, Baildon.

MUCH has been made of the problems within hospital Accident & Emergency departments across the country (The Yorkshire Post, January 
12).

However, a little bit of perspective needs to be thrown into the mix.

It is said that one in three of the people attending A&E at Bradford Royal Infirmary are “timewasters” who should have gone to their GP, phoned NHS 111 or visited a community pharmacist.

Whilst it is accepted that a quick GP appointment is not always possible, the other two options are always available and should be used first.

If that proportion of “timewasters” in Bradford is mirrored across the country then surely further action is needed? These people should be sent packing from A&E and directed to the other provisions that are available.

Too many see A&E as the easy option.

Should we then also consider charging drunks for the use of A&E services? Maybe the message will start to get across, and the stresses within A&E somewhat diminish?

From: David Gray, Liversedge.

IN our health service, we are desperate for faster attention and therefore greater resources. We see our need as now, and not 18 weeks or longer.

The problem for the Government is that the Treasury is short of cash.

There is a political reluctance to raise taxes. However, there must be a time when we realise that to get what we want the tax revenue will have to be increased, at least in the short term, to provide the resources.

Perhaps it is time to come to a deal and the electorate accept that all income tax rates are increased by one per cent. Obviously unpalatable, but easily implemented.

From: M Beaumont, Rochdale.

MY five-point plan for the NHS is as follows:

1. Stop the cuts in health and care budgets.

2. Save money by replacing the triple lock rises in pensions by an average figure.

3. Make very small charges for GP appointments, and, for prescriptions, which should have similar effect to charges for plastic bags.

4. Institute a state-funded scheme for prompt transfer of patients from hospital beds to temporary care units until a proper care package is in place.

5. Raise an extra billion or two by cutting overseas aid.

From: Natalie Bennett, Former Green Party leader and Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Sheffield Central.

CATHERINE Scott (The Yorkshire Post, January 11) is right to use her brother’s dreadful experience of the American healthcare system to remind us of the tremendous value of the NHS.

Two of the key founding principles of the NHS – a service free at the point of use, and a publicly provided service for which the Health Secretary is ultimately responsible – have been seriously undermined over the past decade.

The service is struggling with massive underfunding and with privatisation that is taking out funds that should be used for healthcare for private profits.

The answer is to return to the founding principles of the NHS – to end the use of for-profit companies in providing care, and to remove the purchaser/provider split that is costing billions of pounds a year.

That’s what the NHS Reinstatement Bill, a cross-party proposal that the Green Party is proud to champion, does. Please ask your MP if they’ll back it.