Hear All Sides

HEALTH SERVICE

I SUPPOSE it was inevitable that, sooner or later, Peter Mullen (Echo, Jan 29) would join the "bash the NHS" brigade.

I can only hope that he does not need, within the foreseeable future, the ministrations of those he has slandered. We are not given the name of the hospital nor the source of his information "that more than 16,000 people die every year from germs picked up in hospital".

And perhaps he could tell us the authority for his statement that the NHS has increased its senior management from 500 to 70,000 in the last 15 years.

Could he also tell us which hospital allows a ward of eight beds to have six television sets playing the same programme at full blast - and could he confirm that this was at the expense of the NHS and not of the patients?

I have my own theory regarding the noisy televisions. The patients had been warned that they were to receive a pastoral visit from one Peter Mullen.

It is obvious that the patients were of the opinion that the trash emanating from the television was preferable to the platitudes and banalities that would be issued from the Rev Peter Mullen. - Willis Collinson, Durham City.

I THINK most people will endorse Peter Mullen's commentary on the state of our hospitals (Echo, Jan 29).

There was a time when hospitals had a separate room where patients on the road to recovery could go and leave the really ill in peace.

The futility of replacing regular cleaners with a private company in order to cut costs was mainly responsible for the demise in hygiene.

The worst mistake the health service made was getting rid of the starched-collared matron who maintained a strict code of discipline and hospitals not only looked clean, they also smelled clean. - D Punchard, Kirkbymoorside.

MANY people are not very happy with our hospitals and the way they are run.

As a patient of Bishop Auckland Hospital and the Mara Unit cancer clinic at Tindale Crescent, I have seen how these doctors and nurses work under conditions that went out a decade ago, but they have learned to make do with what they have.

I can only admire and thank them for the work they do with so little to work with, and for so little remuneration. It can only be determination and caring for patients that makes them carry on doing the job.

So carry on with the good work and hope the conditions of the new hospital help to ease the burden. - C Shaw, Croxdale, Durham.

PRISON SERVICE

THE inspector of prisons has decided that the state of the prisons is not satisfactory and the poor prisoners should have a better lifestyle.

Did she then check up on the victims of those crooks and go and see what damage they had done to the lifestyle of those unfortunate to have been robbed, raped, beaten up, etc and see what she could do for them? Or is this nothing of concern.

The prisoners, no doubt, have three meals a day, heated cells, free TV and free laundry. And these are supposed to be serving punishment.

Many countries make sure that the criminals, after serving their time, are well aware of the punishment and many resolve never to go back to jail again. Thus the crime rate falls.

This country seems to ensure that the prison is a comfortable place to live, so it is no deterrent and many just go back to their life of crime.

When are these people made to pay for the suffering they cause? The punishment they receive now is laughable, the lifestyle monitored by prison inspectors ensures that. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

MODERN BRITAIN

I WONDER where the perfect country in the world is to live. Where everyone has instant access to doctors and hospital treatment, where human mistakes are never made, trains and buses would always be on time and accident-free. Cars would be free of traffic jams.

Crime of every kind would be non-existent. Everybody would have plenty of money, centrally-heated homes, plenty of food to eat, and no one would need to work.

We would all live in perfect harmony with each other, regardless of race or religion.

The political parties would all agree on a common policy for the good of the country.

One could go on and on imagining how wonderful it would be if there were such a country.

It's a fact nowhere is perfect, but Great Britain is better than most countries to live in. - G Sowerby, Bishop Auckland.

BATTLEFIELD VISITS

EACH year the Lancs and Yorks Historical Society organises a Pilgrimage Tour to the First World War battle areas of France and Flanders.

In September, we plan to visit the battlefield areas of the Somme and the Ypres Salient, Vimy Ridge, Loos, Arras and Serre.

The trip specialises in visiting specific cemeteries or memorials. An experienced guide will accompany the trip to comment on specific battles.

Anyone interested and requiring further information should contact me, enclosing a medium-sized SAE for postal replies. - Mrs Pat Thomas, 7 West Grove, Royston, near Barnsley, South Yorks, S71 4RY.

QUESTION TIME

HAVING listened to the various debates on BBC1's Question Time broadcast from Sunderland recently, I consider that Hilary Armstrong should relinquish her position and better spend her time in arranging street parties in celebration of the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Something she appears to know all about and has had experience of. I have never heard anyone say so much, and yet say absolutely nothing.

No wonder the present Government is so devoid of action if this is an example of their powers of debate. What waffle. - AL Rowntree, Wigginton, York.