Letters: Striking doctors have alienated patients and harmed their cause
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SIR – How exactly have striking junior doctors been helping to save the NHS (Letters, December 22)?
They claim to have trained as doctors in order to help their fellow citizens, but have a strange way of doing that.
Charles Penfold
Ulverston, Cumbria
SIR – Much of the coverage on the impact of strikes has referred, understandably, to cancer patients, and the ever-growing waiting list for procedures.
However, the effects are far wider-reaching. As a patient with myopic macular degeneration (MMD), for which I need regular eye injections to minimise sight loss, I have experienced a number of appointment cancellations and delays to treatment this year.
I have heard from other patients who have experienced the same problem; one lady reported that she had received six instead of 12 eye injections this year. The reason cited by those who cancelled the appointments was the strikes, which led to the cancellation of outpatient clinics.
For those with MMD or age-related macular degeneration, the consequences could include vision loss and blindness, which in the longer term must bring a greater cost to the NHS and social care – not to mention the emotional and social impact on patients.
Sadly, however, the medical profession appears to be becoming less concerned about that impact. As a healthcare professional of 40 years, I find this particularly concerning.
Angela Thompson
Cambridge
The right to die
SIR – Perhaps Dame Esther Rantzen’s deeply moving plea over assisted dying (report, December 22) can achieve what the opinion of between 70 and 80 per cent of the British population has so far failed to do.
What level of support for a change in the law does the Government require before it responds to the democratic wishes of the people?
Doug Clark
Currie, Midlothian
SIR – While I fully respect Dame Esther Rantzen’s views on assisted dying, we need to take the utmost care that any debate on this subject is informed not just by personal anecdote and emotional argument, but also by drawing on factual evidence and clinician-based experience.
Any suggestion that the Church of England’s view on the matter has wavered, meanwhile, is misconceived. The subject was extensively debated at the Church of England’s General Synod in July 2022, following a private members motion that I introduced. The debate was a full and comprehensive one within the time allowed, and the final vote a strong statement of continuing support for the current legislation on assisted suicide.
The key to avoiding the kind of death Dame Esther fears is increased funding for palliative care, which successive governments have failed to provide. This would help to ensure access to the very best that palliative care can provide at the time when it is needed. Focusing efforts on changing the law can only detract from this fundamental goal.
Dr Simon Eyre FRCGP
Eastbourne, East Sussex
SIR – Mike Cobb (Letters, December 22) states that he does not want assisted dying to be an option for those facing terminal illness because his treatment has allowed him to outlive his original prognosis.
He misses the point that those hoping for the possibility of an assisted death when facing terminal illness are not suicidal. They don’t want to die, but they are dying. The few people who have an assisted death wait until their suffering is unbearable. If they outlive their prognosis they can remain reassured by the fact that an assisted death is an option if they require it.
Mr Cobb responded to his treatment. But many do not, and they and their loved ones would take great comfort from the availability of a compassionate choice.
Dr Jacky Davis
Chair, Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying
London NW5
SIR – A year or two ago I watched on television a fascinating debate on the subject of assisted dying in a packed House of Lords.
The debate did two things for me. First, it demonstrated the need for the Lords, with amazingly extensive expertise on every aspect of the subject on display. Secondly, the debate illustrated to me (as a lawyer) the substantial difficulty in drafting a safe and effective law to provide for assisted dying.
Christopher W Robson
Bedale, North Yorkshire
Prison and deterrence
SIR – Analysis from the College of Policing purports to show that prison does not stop criminals from reoffending (report, December 22).
It found that 54 per cent of jailed criminals reoffended, compared with 46 per cent of those handed suspended prison terms, community service, fines or probation.
Could this be because the imprisoned cohort are more likely, on average, to be hardened criminals, and so less likely to be deterred from reoffending?
Michael Hughes
Birmingham
SIR – I was pleased to see that the College of Policing research acknowledged the importance of education, training, family and other relationships as supportive factors in reducing reoffending.
As well as acting as a deterrent, a fundamental purpose of custodial sentencing is to support the rehabilitation of offenders. This can only be achieved by demonstrating to prisoners that there is a viable alternative to their lifestyles.
Targeted learning plus the support of family and other significant relationships can enable offenders to see that a crime-free lifestyle is an achievable option.
Stuart Harrington
Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset
How not to behave on a trip to the theatre
SIR – Standing ovations (Letters, December 22) are one thing – but worse is the whooping that one so often hears.
I have even heard it following the performance of masterpieces by great composers.
Derek Wellman
Lincoln
SIR – After I had spent £400 on four seats in the stalls to watch a matinee performance of the Matilda musical, we found ourselves sitting behind people who had no consideration for anybody else.
I ended up watching them – instead of the show – as they passed a bottle of wine between themselves, whispering and glancing at their phones.
My grandchildren – who are seven and nine years old, and have been taught to sit still – had to crane their necks around these constantly moving individuals.
Surely the wine should have been confiscated; and perhaps, before the show, there should have been a reminder to everyone in attendance on how to behave in this environment.
Catherine Howie
Shoreham, Kent
SIR – Yesterday’s letter on standing ovations reminded me of when, in 1963, I was the pianist at the Little Theatre in Bristol and Beyond the Fringe was staged by the Bristol Old Vic. The show began with the three main characters clad in business suits and bowler hats, sitting facing the audience with newspapers opened in front of them.
I started playing the national anthem. The actors did not move, but half the audience stood up, while the other half took their lead from the actors and remained seated. The standing half then looked at the sitting half and sat down; the sitting half had looked at the standing half and were preparing to stand. This confusion continued for some time, and the noise created by the hundreds of tip-up seats nearly drowned out the music.
Richard Hodgson
Axminster, Devon
Troubles veterans
SIR – In your report (December 21) on Ireland’s attempt to prevent the UK from ending vexatious prosecution of service veterans, you correctly note that “ECHR rules for the right to life and prohibition of torture require member states to investigate death and serious harm”. The key term here is “investigate” – something the Defence Committee closely examined with expert legal witnesses during its 2017 inquiry hearings.
We found that a statute of limitation is permissible under international law, if two conditions are met. First, it must cover all former parties to the Northern Ireland conflict: applying it only to service personnel would be deemed unacceptable state impunity. Indeed, that principle has been conceded already in the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998, limiting time served in prison for Troubles-related offences – including murder – to only two years, whether carried out by terrorist paramilitaries or by soldiers.
Secondly, we learnt that the ECHR requirement for an adequate investigation does not necessitate a subsequent prosecution. Instead, it can be met absolutely by a “truth recovery process” coupled with a guarantee of immunity, as was successfully operated in post-apartheid South Africa. We argued – and the Government agreed – that what had been good enough for Nelson Mandela should be good enough for the rest of us.
Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach, wants the human rights court to endorse a double-standard and overrule our overdue legislation. We should certainly not comply, in the unlikely event of it finding in his favour.
Sir Julian Lewis MP (Con)
Chairman, Defence Committee, 2015-19
London SW1
Second-class best
SIR – Am I the only one whose Christmas cards have all been delivered by hand or second-class post this year? Does anybody use first-class stamps these days?
Judy Parsley
London W4
Costly heat pumps
SIR – I share the concerns about the proposed “boiler tax”, designed to encourage people to switch to heat pumps, which has already raised the price of boilers by up to £120 (report, December 22).
My partner tried to get a quote for a heat pump for her 15th-century cottage, but the firm said it was not feasible and, in any case, would have cost three times more to run than her current oil-fired boiler.
The Prime Minister should insist that Downing Street has heat pumps installed, then publish the total cost of the conversion per square metre of floor area. This should be combined with an evaluation of running costs and comfort.
John Knox
North Ferriby, East Yorkshire
Holy hounds
SIR – A blind couple used to attend our church with their guide dogs. One week, just as the Eucharistic prayer started, the black Labrador (Letters, December 22) did a deep play-bow, as if she were praying, and settled down again.
I whispered to my friend that she was a very holy Labrador. She looked at me and said: “All Labradors are holy.”
Sandra Hancock
Exeter, Devon
A hatless home
SIR – During the early years of the last century my father had an eccentric uncle who never wore a hat (Letters, December 21).
He told me that many wrote to him with the address: Charle Bar t’At, Leeds. So rare were those who went bare-headed in the 1900s that the letters were delivered.
Nick Kester
Wattisfield, Suffolk
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