YP Letters: Truth about A&E waits distorted by targets that are set

I WAS disappointed and dismayed to read that the fall in percentage of patients seen within four hours in A&E was called ‘worsening performance’ (The Yorkshire Post, March 9).

Surely targets like this are only as good as the realism shown by the target-setter? Alongside these percentages, we should be told how many people were attending A&E compared to previous months.

If the number of people trying to access the facility increases, you cannot expect the percentage of people seen within the four hours to remain the same. If the brilliant staff have reached their maximum capacity, the number of people they can see will not increase.

Please do not demoralise our superb hospital staff by headlining these unhelpful statistics which distort the truth.

From: Hugh Rogers, Messingham Road, Ashby.

YET another story about our overstretched NHS – and an all too familiar demand for more money. The problem the Health Service has is little, if anything, to do with money –after all, Aneurin Bevan gave it a blank cheque 70 years ago (The Yorkshire Post, March 9).

Unless any politician is going to be brave enough to say “enough is enough”, we are stuck with an NHS which closely resembles a bucket with a hole in it. Even talking about the “cost” of the NHS – which first and foremost is demand-led – is ridiculous. Our hospitals are not going to be forced into liquidation with staff thrown on the dole and “everything must go” sales. Let’s have an end to the grumbling and political point-making – especially from an Opposition which has shown that it can’t add up. It demoralises us all, especially NHS staff and patients.

Almost by definition, as a nationalised industry, the NHS cannot fail, or or run out of money, any more than we can run out of air to breathe. So either get rid of it or chuck it your credit card.

From: Andrew Mercer, Guiseley.

AN incredible story about teenager Conor Rowlands, from Huby near Easingwold, when he was reunited with the Thirsk ambulance crew who rushed him to London for a life-saving liver transplant. Dave Gardner and Hannah Duffield worked for 24 hours to ensure Conor got to hospital on time for the operation that saved his life after a three-year wait for a donor. A heartwarming tale about humanity in these testing times.