Sir, It is not until one comes face to face with the pernicious effects of bed blocking (Magnus Linklater’s Comment, February 17) that the impact on our hospitals becomes apparent. In this area, an excellent day surgery unit is working at half capacity because of bed-blocking overspill from other wards.
Central Government’s failure to finance social services effectively is having the knock-on effect of scoring own goals against NHS services. We need action now, without waiting for the ballot box.
Yours faithfully,
JOHN RAY,
342 Upper Richmond Road West,
East Sheen, SW14 7JR.
johnray342@yahoo.co.uk
February 17.
From Mr James Ikpeme, FRCS
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Sir, Magnus Linklater’s wife had a torn muscle in the back of her leg and was able to drive herself to the hospital. I consider that to be a minor injury that could easily have been dealt with by her general practitioner. There was no need for her to present herself to an accident and emergency department on a busy Saturday evening.
I worked in A&E for many years and can confirm that there were long delays well before 1997. The term “Casualty” was phased out in the hope of eliminating trivial injuries.
Yours faithfully,
J. O. IKPEME,
(Retired orthopaedic surgeon),
4 Hookstone Oval,
Harrogate HG2 8QE.
February 17.