IN the Review of July 14 Mr Meredith Edwards rightly castigates the management at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. That is the problem – the management are managers and not medics.
In the past it has been my misfortune to accompany an injured party to the casualty department at this hospital. I found it appaling that genuine sufferers are forced to wait for long periods in the company of those who have brought problems on themselves, ie drunks and drug addicts.
On July 7 it was again my lot to accompany an injured person to an accident unit at a different hospital. At this hospital there was no waiting room because there was no waiting. The walking wounded were ushered into individual rooms and those incapable were stretchered in. I stress the word 'rooms,' there were no wards. Each room appeared to be equipped with apparatus to cope with most emergencies and carry out tests plus racks of dressings and medications. Not one but two doctors attended most patients. The beds even appeared to be high-tech and the staffing ratio was obviously way above Gloucester which in comparison looks almost third world.
The name of this hospital? 'Centre Hospitalier Louis Pasteur.' The location? Northern France. I've previously only heard of French hospitals second hand but would say that to bring our NHS up to a similar standard would require many times the increase in funding that the Chancellor proposes. Regrettably that would not be the end of the story, the 'dead wood' in management would need to be pruned; maybe those deposed could find some role in the third world.
We already have the Severn crossings and some of our utilities under French control. Why not the hospitals too? – B.W. Wheeler, High Street, Newnham.